Vibhavadi Hospital in Bangkok is adopting a mobile health solution to deliver reminders about appointments to all patients on their cell phones.

The mHeath+3 platform, developed by New Zealand-based mHealth provider Vensa Health, will automate and manage appointment reminders for all 200,000 appointments that the hospital schedules annually. The hospital serves more than 20,000 in-patients and 300,000 out-patients a year.

The platform has been integrated with the hospitals existing health information system to allow the hospital to send personalised reminders directly to patients’ cell phones through SMS. For the initial two-month pilot, the platform will be used across five departments representing 15 to 20 per cent of all appointments scheduled in the hospital. The hospital will assess the effectiveness of the system in ensuring appointment attendance and increased saving of time and resources during the trial.

Vibhavadi Hospital expects to see millions in savings by cutting the number of missed appointments annually by as much as 50 per cent. Patient outcomes too will be improved with fewer patients missing appointments with their doctors.

“We expect to be able to use Vensa’s system to improve service integration at Vibhavadi and ensure more patients attend the appointments they need at the right time to stay well”, stated Chaisit Viriyamettakul , Managing Director of Vibhavadi Hospital.