About us · Healthcare digitalisation
Nova Health's Digital Capabilities
The screenshots on this page come from Nova Health's real system. The names, phone numbers and clinical records shown are sample data, and the interface labels in the screenshots are in Chinese.
- 6.28minAverage time for a therapist or nurse to reply to an enquiry in person
- 76%Administrative steps already completed automatically by the system
- 6.5minAverage time for a therapist to write a clinical record
- 6Full-time physiotherapists
The name Nova Health and its core values
The English name of 芯凝 is Nova Health Limited. Nova means a new star, which signals that from the day it was founded the company has been heading towards innovation and technology. Our core values are bold innovation and a careful understanding of what our clients need, so that the results of technology become benefits for older adults' rehabilitation.
Why we chose WhatsApp rather than developing a mobile app
At one time the founding team disagreed on the technology, over whether the front end should be WhatsApp or a mobile app. The app route is technically mature, while the WhatsApp development ecosystem is relatively closed and the user experience is quite limited. In the end we decided to use WhatsApp as the front end, and we solved automatic scheduling, invoices, cloud phone calls, treatment reports and complete two-way interaction between WhatsApp and the back end. We know that apps often end up being showy, that older adults are more familiar with the WhatsApp interface, and that technology should serve people and not the other way round.
WhatsApp enquiries are answered in person by a therapist or nurse
When people hear WhatsApp, the first thing that comes to mind is an annoying robot reply. We do have a robot reply, but all it does is tell the client that a therapist or nurse will reply in person within 30 minutes. According to our back-end data, physiotherapists or nurses reply in person in an average of 6.28 minutes. We have introduced a self-hosted decision model, and the cloud phone automatically contacts the most convenient therapist according to an algorithm, which deals with the family's urgent need. Often the reason a family comes to us is to have someone they can trust to answer their questions at any time, and speed of response is the key to meeting the family's urgency.
Cloud phone calls that let several colleagues join one call
The cloud phone is one of our main features. A cloud phone is not a phone with a SIM card in a slot. It is a phone that runs on a server. When a patient makes an enquiry, more than one stakeholder is often involved, and administration, physiotherapists, nurses and health workers may all need to join the conversation. Passing messages along by word of mouth is inefficient and affects how the information is conveyed. With cloud phone technology, one phone call becomes a multi-party meeting, and on a technical level this makes true multidisciplinary care possible.
Automating administrative work
At the same time, Nova Health's administration is 76% automated, and the monthly administration time per client is under 23 minutes. Administration, scheduling, accounting and auditing are already highly automated in Nova's back end. An algorithm schedules visits automatically, sends out timetables, checks attendance records, sends invoices and completes the audit. We put our most valuable human resources into understanding what clients need. A change in quantity leads to a change in quality: with the administrative barrier lowered, it is easier for front-line therapists and nurses to take part in administration. Often we no longer have traditional administration at all, and simple administrative work is done at the front line. In the rehabilitation market in the past, therapists and administration were very disconnected. Now a front-line therapist basically holds every itinerary, handling everything from scheduling and guiding assistant colleagues to treatment, so that every front-line worker is truly the client's case manager.
The scheduling system and full-time physiotherapists
A well-developed scheduling algorithm lets Nova Health hire full-time physiotherapists only. The traditional rehabilitation market mainly works by dispatching jobs. The reason is not that agencies lack clients. Each older adult has a different body clock, some have follow-up appointments on Monday, some can only have treatment on Saturday when family members are there, and one client may be in Tsing Yi and another in Tai Po. Once WhatsApp is opened, the person in charge of scheduling is overwhelmed, so jobs can only be dispatched to whoever is most convenient. The biggest problems with part-time staff, however, are stability, familiarity with the field, and quality control. Nova Health now has 6 full-time physiotherapists, each responsible for 2 districts, for example Kowloon West or Hong Kong Island West. With a map algorithm and constraints, we use a hybrid of VRP (Vehicle Routing Problem, an algorithm that calculates the best route between several locations) and a large language model to work out the best timetable, which makes full-time physiotherapists possible. Full-time physiotherapists ensure steady quality, the person is not changed casually, and there is a strict supervision system.
Scheduling of treatment equipment
Speaking of scheduling, the thing that gains most from scheduling efficiency is the logistics of treatment equipment. In the past, bringing a GameReady (a 6 kg cold therapy machine), a kettlebell (8 kg), an electroacupuncture machine, yoga balls and mats was hellish work. Home visits involve a lot of movement, and some older adults may pause because of follow-up appointments, so we can free up some staff to arrange the logistics of heavy equipment. Basically, if a therapist needs an electroacupuncture machine one day, we can leave it briefly at a patient's home for use the next day.
Writing clinical records with a voice model, and making exercise sheet images with AI
With open-source speech models maturing recently, it has become possible for therapists to write clinical records through self-hosted speech and open-source models. We now take an average of only six and a half minutes to write a record, which greatly improves compliance of the files and completeness of the records. We also strongly promote AI-customised treatment photos and videos. Therapists can generate images directly in a mobile app, and an ordinary single-leg stand can have countless different versions through version control, some with one person supporting, and some in the form of a game. When the therapist has a free moment back in the office, real photos are added later, so that the exercise sheet and the clinical record are presented to the client in the most authentic form.
How we see the role of technology in home visit services
For an organisation that visits people at home, technology has never been the primary productive force. People are. But if technology can help one person do better, with higher administrative efficiency, better tools and better coordination, I believe that is the future of healthcare.