Launches mobile app to enhance patients’ experience

JAKARTA,INDONESIA - Media OutReach -2 April 2019 - Columbia Asia Hospital, one of the largest and fastest-growinghealthcare companies in Asia, has outlined key trends impacting the healthcare industryin these times of digital living and convenience. Being a leading healthcareprovider in the region with patients base of over three million across fourmarkets, puts Columbia Asia Hospital in a good position to observe patients'behavior and implement solutions catering to their evolving needs.   

Dr.Kelvin Loh, Group Chief Executive Officer, Columbia Asia commented about existing healthcare trends,"The key trends observed by us clearly highlight that modern patients aredemanding for personalized, quick and seamless healthcare delivery. This makes dealingwith the healthcare system much more convenient for them, something that hasn'tbeen typical of healthcare delivery systems in the past. Our studies have also shown that technologyadvancements in healthcare have the potential of closing the communication andinformation gap between patients and providers. As a company that is continuouslylooking for better ways to enhance services to our patients, we will try tobring in newer systems and processes that will be in line with demands of thetimes."

Key healthcare trends 2019 -- Columbia AsiaHospital:

• Patients arelooking for the best consultation with efficient services: Patientstoday are expecting a lot in terms of the service that they receive. Theseexpectations range from well-maintained hospitals, helpful doctors, nurses andstaff, shorter waiting time for appointments, quick access to health records etal.

• The future ofhealthcare lies in efficiency: For primary and secondary care, patientsprefer to rely on neighborhood / small-sized hospitals that provide easieraccess to quality healthcare services. In addition, smaller hospitals provide focused treatmentoptions and shorter in-patient stays enabling them to keep costs low forpatients. Leveraging digital technologies on a smaller scale further permits costeffective delivery of specialist care.

• Tapping intothe realm of mobile healthcare: More and more healthcare organizations arerelying on patient interface through mobile apps. Apps often feature theability to schedule appointments, access patient's medical history and testresults, send reminders and provide option of cashless payment for acquiredservices.

• Social mediaspace is the new word-of-mouth. Consumers today have the option of checkingreviews before making most purchase decisions -- hospital choices are alsoincreasingly getting dependent on reviews found in the online space. Otherfactors such as presence on social media platforms and its responsiveness havean influence on patients' hospital preference.  

In line with the highlighted trends,Columbia Asia has launched its official mobile app aimed to enhance theirservice offerings to patients. Keeping up with emerging healthcare trends thatare shaping the industry globally further drives the needs for hospitaloperators to continuously make patients' experience at hospitals hassle-freeand less time consuming.

The patient-centric application allows for servicessuch as booking and managing of appointments, payment, hospital-related queries,along with retrieving of corporate information and promotions to be moreseamless and efficient. (Payment functionwill be ready in Malaysia and Indonesia soon)

"The launch of our official mobile app is yetanother initiative in our digital transformation journey, as more and morepeople, particularly the millennials are opting for healthcare providers thatoffer treatment with added convenience. Aside from better serving the needs ofour patients, the mobile application gives us a cost-effective solution toreduce time in operational manpower," added Dr Loh.

During the trial period of the mobile appdeployment, Columbia Asia witnessed encouraging results including 16 percentcut down in out-patient journey time and an overall improved staff efficiency of8 to 9 percent, subsequently adding to increased time for staff-patientengagement.

Available on both iOS andAndroid platforms, Columbia Asia is looking at the enhancement of several servicesin the future such as exclusive medical package offerings and more. Pilot programhas also been launched with an app for physicians as part of its efforts toimprove connectivity to the IT platform to aid in better patient engagement.

Download Links

Apple App Store: https://bit.ly/cah_ios

Google Play Store: https://bit.ly/cah_android

About Columbia Asia

Columbia Asia is an international private healthcare company founded byan American entrepreneur, Mr. Daniel Baty in 1996. From the outset, ColumbiaAsia envisioned to provide quality, affordable healthcare services easilyaccessed by people wherever they live - driven by our vision statement, apassion for making people better. It is owned by an investment fund, InternationalColumbia US, LLC (ICU). In 2016, Mitsui & Co., a Japanese conglomerate withdeep operating experience in Asia joined as a shareholder in ICU.

Today, Columbia Asia is one of the largest and fastest growing hospitalgroups in Asia. It currently has 12 hospitals in Malaysia, 11 in India, 2 inVietnam and 3 in Indonesia.

With no more than 200 beds per hospital, it leverages modern technologyto provide efficient specialist care and to reduce length of hospital stayswhich results in more cost-effective care. The hospitals of Columbia Asiaprovide a wide array of specialist services such as General Surgery,Pediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Orthopedics, Internal Medicine,Oncology, Cardiology, Neurosurgery, Bariatric surgery and more.  These are appropriately supported byancillary services that include an Intensive Care Unit, Neonatal Care Unit,Physiotherapy, Laboratory, Pharmacy and Imaging. At Columbia Asia, strict clinical governance, ethics and excellence aredemanded.