HMC announces changes to enhance outpatient appointment booking process

Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) announced via twitter yesterday a set of system changes to enhance the outpatient booking process in addition to its plans to launch evening clinics at the Ambulatory Care Center for specialties including Ophthalmology, Ear, Nose and Throat, Urology and Audiology.

HMC Implements Enhanced Appointment Booking System to Improve Patient Care

Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) has announced a set of system changes to enhance the outpatient appointment booking process and improve access to care for patients. pic.twitter.com/ftBgW4kRYG

— مؤسسة حمد الطبية (@HMC_Qatar) February 25, 2023

HMC stated that part of its system changes will include implementing a new appointment booking system and establishing new referral management sections in each of the HMC hospitals under the control of appointment management teams. HMC explained that this will be done in coordination with the individual outpatient department management teams giving hospitals more control of booking appointments for their patients which in turn would help avoid unnecessary delays.

Adding that this plan empowers the clinical team and facilities with referral and booking management resources, HMC noted that highly experienced staff have been selected to work in these sections.

Deputy Chief of Quality for Center for Patient Experience and Staff Engagement and Director of Hamad Healthcare Quality Institute, Mr. Nasser Al Naimi, said that this project was launched in March 2022 with the support of the Minister of Public Health, Her Excellency Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari.

Al Naimi explained that the project included a comprehensive review of the end-to-end booking process to identify and resolve issues with respect to referral, e-triage, in-calling, and appointment booking processes.

Al Naimi noted that these changes are being made in stages with the first stage covering seven HMC hospitals which are the Ambulatory Care Center, Hamad General Hospital, Al Wakra Hospital, Al Khor Hospital, Qatar Rehabilitation Institute, National Center for Cancer Care and Research, Women's Wellness and Research Center, as well as the Bone and Joint Center and Hamad Dental Center.

“The project will be carried out in the remaining hospitals this year as we successfully continue to make significant changes to improve patient care,” Al Naimi added.

Speaking about the positive impacts following the launch of the new referral booking management system, Al Naimi said that through this system, the OPD appointment waiting list issues for Qatari patients does not exist in any of the mentioned facilities.

Adding that the project was launched in March 2022 and the wait times lists included 10000 patients awaiting OPD bookings, Al Naimi said, “We achieved an unprecedented rate in wait time elimination at ACC OPD as Qatari patients are now able to book their appointment on the same day of receiving their referrals.”

Speaking about the upcoming launch of evening clinics at the Ambulatory Care Center for specialties including Ophthalmology, Ear, Nose and Throat, Urology and Audiology, Al Naimi noted that this will benefit patients and ensure faster access to care.

“Once we launch the evening clinics, we will add this service to the Nesma’ak 16060 hotline and helpline services to facilitate the management of patient appointments,” Al Naimi added.

The 16060 Nesma’ak Customer Service helpline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Patients can call the 16060 Nesma’ak helpline and then select the appointment hotline service to manage their upcoming appointments at HMC facilities whether they want to change or cancel it.

Al Naimi noted that in 2022, the Nesma’ak teams received more than 971,000 calls from patients with enquiries related to their appointments, with around 25% of patients failing to attend their appointments.

Speaking about the changes implemented, Al Naimi said, ““These changes are already starting to lead to early improvements in wait times and clinic utilization across HMC and as time goes on and the full range of initiatives are implemented, we expect to see further improvements for our patients.”

Al Naimi encouraged patients to contact the 16060 Nesma’ak helpline and then select the hotline services if they have any appointment related queries, especially if the patient wishes to postpone or cancel the appointment, which will give the opportunity for other patients to benefit from the appointments.

For more information about Nesma’ak, and other services visit the HMC website

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