Health fund halts appointment reminders over inaccurate data

Estonia’s Health Insurance Fund has paused a trial of reminders sent 72 hours before medical appointments after finding errors in the digital appointment system data used to prepare them, ERR reported.

The fund tested sending reminders through the national health portal to ensure patients received appointment information regardless of which healthcare provider they were visiting. Some providers already send their own reminders, meaning patients could receive duplicate messages.

The health portal’s product manager, Evgeni Nikolaevski, said the reminders are intended to help people remember appointments and cancel in advance if they cannot attend. The trial was also meant to assess how the notifications worked and gather feedback from patients and healthcare providers.

Because the portal’s messages are based on information submitted to the digital appointment system, incorrect data could also appear in notifications sent to patients, Nikolaevski said. The fund will resume sending reminders after working with healthcare providers to improve data quality and find a way to account for reminders they already send.

The development cost the fund nearly 4,200 euros.