Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
Question: (2) The HA has been promoting the charging arrangements for radiology services and the related payment arrangements through various channels, including holding briefing sessions and producing promotional videos and leaflets, to help patients, their family members and carers understand the payment requirements, deadlines and reminder arrangements, and to settle payment on time. The HA will continue to strengthen publicity to ensure that patients understand the charging policy and to ensure proper use of healthcare resources.
If a patient does not settle the payment for radiology services before the payment deadline, the HA Go mobile application will issue up to three payment reminders before the deadline. These reminders are sent on the 44th, 35th and 15th day prior to the appointment date. In addition to reminders issued via HA Go, the HA will mail a paper billing notice to non-HA Go users around the 35th day before the appointment as a payment reminder. The arrangement for hospital staff to make reminder calls was a transitional measure introduced during the initial phase of the new charging arrangements. The HA understands that some patients may need time to become familiar with the new payment arrangements. Therefore, during the early stage of implementation of the charging policy, the HA strengthened reminders through multiple channels and provided transitional phone reminders to help patients keep track of payment deadlines.