When to change to electronic health insurance card?

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It is expected to complete updating personal information in the third quarter of 2020

In Dong Nai, the provincial social insurance agency is still urgently completing updating personal information of participants of health insurance throughout the area, to serve the change of paper health insurance cards to electronic cards in 2020.

The reason for the change is the large number of people and employees participating in health insurance in Dong Nai. According to the provincial social insurance agency, by the end of 2019, Dong Nai had 2.5 million people participating in health insurance (reaching over 83% of the population). There are still businesses, workers, and people who have not completed providing and supplementing personal information.

Up to now, the provincial social insurance body has completed nearly 90% of the updated workload, supplementing the full information of the participants of health insurance for the renewal of a new card. It is expected to complete the update of personal information to transfer to Vietnam Social Insurance for an exchange of electronic health insurance cards in the third quarter of 2020.

Director of the provincial social insurance Pham Minh Thanh said that the electronic health insurance card is made of plastic, with the same size as an ATM card and an electronic chip. Information on the card includes code, full name, and date of issue. Information such as address, sex, initial health care facility, as well as personal medical history information will be directly managed on the professional software when the card is accessed.

“The issuance of electronic health insurance cards will help reduce and simplify procedures such as: printing annual renewal of health insurance cards; changing the health insurance card due to false and misleading information, changing the place of initial registration for medical examination and treatment, adjusting benefits and subjects, etc. to best optimize the administrative procedures and improve the quality of service for people participate in health insurance”, said Mr. Pham Minh Thanh.

Multi-benefit

To prepare for the issue of electronic health insurance cards, the provincial social insurance agency coordinates with medical examination and treatment facilities to equip and complete the information technology system for deploying the use of electronic health insurance cards at medical examination and treatment facilities to ensure that people can use the card and deal with policies conveniently; and train and instruct officials and employees at medical examination and treatment establishments to receive and handle cases promptly when participants go to medical examination and treatment facilities with their health insurance, etc.

Director of Dong Nai General Hospital, Dr. Ngo Duc Tuan said that the hospital has trained and instructed hospital staff on electronic health insurance cards and is ready to deploy electronic health insurance in medical examination and treatment. Electronic health insurance cards will significantly improve the time for medical examination and treatment registration, ensuring accurate information. Especially, the identity verification of card users will be encrypted with biometrics (fingerprints or facial recognition), which will prevent the lending of cards and the use of health insurance cards of the deceased for medical examination and treatment, and prevent profiteering on health insurance.

“In the profession, integrating information and historical data of previous visits of patients on electronic health insurance cards will be convenient for doctors in monitoring the patient's condition, limiting screenings and test for many times and minimizing overlap medicines granted.”, said Dr. Ngo Duc Tuan.

Regarding this issue, Deputy Director of Dinh Quan Regional General Hospital, Dr. Ta Quang Tri said that the deployment of electronic health insurance cards is an indispensable trend of the information technology era. In the electronic health insurance card, all information and data related to the individual card users have been fully integrated, especially with the user's face or fingerprint identification. This facilitates both the hospital and the people in their registration, helping to reduce waiting time; simplify procedures for medical examination registration, health insurance payment for people; and avoid inconvenience in case of forgeting to bring identification documents.

Ha Di

Box: As expected by Vietnam Social Insurance, information about social insurance and unemployment insurance will also be integrated into the electronic health insurance card, proceeding to combine and replace the current social insurance book.