Service quality and accessibility of healthcare facilities: digital healthcare potential in Ho Chi Minh City

Abstract

Background Effective delivery of health services requires adequate quality in healthcare facilities and easy accessibility to health services physically or virtually. The purpose of this study was to reveal how the quality of healthcare facilities varies across the different parts of Ho Chi Minh City and how well residents (N = 9 million) can reach healthcare facilities. By demarcating the deficiently served areas of low accessibility, the study shows where urban planning and digital healthcare could improve accessibility to health services and the quality of services efficiently. Methods The analysis utilised geocoded information on hospitals, clinics, roads and population and the data of the quality scores of healthcare facilities. Quality scores were analysed by hot spot analysis and inverse distance weighting. Accessibility and formation of travel time-based service areas by travel time distances were calculated using road network, driving speed and population data. Results The results unveiled a centripetal spatial pattern of healthcare facilities and a similar pattern in their quality. Outside the travel time of 30 min for hospitals and 15 min for clinics, the deficiently served areas have a population of 1.1 to 1.2 million. Based on the results and the evidence of digital healthcare, this paper highlights how to develop and plan spatially effective service provision. Especially, it gives grounds to discuss how cost-effective digital healthcare could be applied to improve the accessibility and quality of health services in an urban structure of extensively varying accessibility to health services. Conclusions The results bring up the need and the means for improving the quality of health services and their cost-efficient availability by location optimisation, road improvements and implementing digital healthcare provided by hospitals and clinics in the city. At the same, this study provides a multidisciplinary approach for planning more equal and efficient health service provision geographically.

Management of Electronic Health Records in Virtual Health Environments

“…Equally crucial, telehealth services rely significantly on digital literacy skills and relevant technologies, as they are delivered remotely. Le et al (2022) underscore the versatility of telehealth, emphasizing its applications in self-monitoring, follow-up care, telemedicine, and disease surveillance through teleconferencing. Notably, telehealth services are especially recommended for managing acute and curative conditions, particularly in young adults.…”

Quantitative Evaluation of Difficulty in Visiting Hospitals for Elderly Patients in Depopulated Area in Japan: Using National Health Insurance Data

“…There are many other studies that have calculated accessibility by considering the location of medical facilities, road networks, population at demand points, and quality of medical services. For example, the following studies exist [13][14][15][16][17][18]. Le et al [13] investigated how the quality of health care facilities varies across Ho Chi Minh City.…”

“…For example, the following studies exist [13][14][15][16][17][18]. Le et al [13] investigated how the quality of health care facilities varies across Ho Chi Minh City. They also examined the extent to which residents (N = 9 million) have access to medical facilities.…”

“…Finally, while the study of Ide et al [7] is similar to this study as it conducted geographical information-type analysis using GIS, this study carries out quantitative assessment by considering the regional characteristics of the analysis target area, such as the difference in elevation and distance to a bus stop. In addition, research cases outside Japan [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] have calculated accessibility using GIS, taking into account the location of medical facilities, road networks, etc. This is similar to this study, however, this study utilizes medical big data (KDB data) to calculate the number of patients actually living in areas with low medical accessibility.…”

Follow-Up of Patients With Axial Spondyloarthritis in Specialist Health Care With Remote Monitoring and Self-Monitoring Compared With Regular Face-to-Face Follow-Up Visits (the ReMonit Study): Protocol for a Randomized, Controlled Open-Label Noninferiority Trial

“…The timing of face-to-face or digital visits may be individualized [ 11 ], which may increase patient satisfaction. Patients living in both rural and urban areas with limited access to health care services may experience increased access to health care services if they are offered digital follow-up [ 12 , 13 ]. Remote monitoring and self-monitoring may be a step toward more personalized and potentially better follow-up of patients with axSpA.…”