Internet Hospital of the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University

The internet hospital of the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University was put into use on February 16, 2016. At the beginning, 12 departments provided Web-based health services; of these, the general practice department bears nearly 30% Web-based workload. Figure 1 present the work flowchart [11]. The internet hospital provides outpatients with health services in the following 6 aspects: Web-based clinic; laboratory and imaging examination appointment; prescription; routine follow-up; various payments; and referral services. Based on Xie et al [5], the consulting methods included video chat, voice chat, telephone, image, and message. The details of the consultation are provided in a study conducted by Tu et al [4]. Regarding the laboratory and imaging examination appointment, patients could finish the laboratory and imaging examination in 1 day and earlier than the examination booked offline. The prescription is checked by the pharmacist with electronic signature (CA) and then delivered to or fetched by patients from the hospital or pharmacy. Of course, examination and prescription were provided after the fee was paid using many payment methods including Web-based (eg, Alipay and Apple pay), medicare, self-help machine, and others.

The flowchart of Web-based health service.