OREANDA-NEWS. March 28, 2013. To those who wish to go to hospitals in big cities for medical treatment, waiting in queues to get appointments is always the most troublesome problem. To see a doctor, many patients have no choice but wake up very early in the morning to queue up at the hospital, or buy the medical appointment No. from the scalpers at exorbitant prices. Isn’t there a convenient way to resolve this problem?

ICBC Beijing Branch has recently rolled out "Bank-Hospital One-Card Pass" services with seven hospitals to improve the financial services for hospitals as well as patients, and let patients get medical treatment conveniently. The seven hospitals are: Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital ("301 Hospital"), The First Hospital Affiliated to Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital ("304 Hospital"), Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital, Xuanwu Hospital, Guang'anmen Hospital and Miyun Hospital. Patients simply make medical appointments by themselves either at ICBC self-service terminals or online via Internet Banking, very convenient and fast. Patients are allowed to receive medical treatment first, settle the bill later, no need to queue up and pay at the check-out counter, faster and more efficient.

"Bank-Hospital One-Card Pass" connects information systems of ICBC and hospitals together. Through such connectivity to link up ICBC's self-service terminals, Internet Banking, a package of medical services and solutions is delivered to the hospitals and patients who use ICBC's exclusive medical cards or bank bards for the service. An ICBC medical card is a card with many purposes. With this card, patients register with a doctor and pay their bills at the hospital, and the hospitals can keep track of patient information in computer. Not only the card has all the financial and settlement functions of a bank card, but more medical services/functions are available such as making medical appointment, paying bills, getting treatment, printing slips and getting refund. Customers are welcomed to sign up the service at any ICBC outlet in Beijing.

When using "Bank-Hospital One-Card Pass" services at Peking Union Medical College Hospital and Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital, customers need to apply for "Bank-Hospital Card" issued by the two hospitals. For other hospitals, customers are allowed to use their own ICBC bank cards to make appointment to see doctor within a week at ICBC self-service terminals or self-service devices of the hospitals. Customers can also make medical appointment on the day at self-service devices of the hospital, no need to queue up again. Besides, patients can use bank card to pay the fees for medical checks, tests and pharmaceutical drugs or settle the bill through transfer, if the hospital supports patients to pay bills during treatment. Patients no longer need to run around and queue up and pay at the cashier counter.

An ICBC executive said, the next move of ICBC is to step up the effort to promote "Bank-Hospital One-Card Pass" services. ICBC will join force with large hospitals in different regions to launch medical financial services featuring advanced, convenient medical and settlement options, bringing more convenience to the patients with a full spectrum of services and functions.