Quality HealthCare And PolyU Launch RPA Internship Program

• Quality HealthCare Medical Services (QHMS) partners with PolyU’s School of Accounting and Finance to launch a Robotic Process Automation (RPA) internship program, enhancing workflow efficiency and student learning in digital transformation.
• Six undergraduate students are developing nine RPA use cases across five departments, saving about 1,600 man-hours monthly, including automations in clinic report digitization, billing query management, and form processing.
• The 24-week internship equips students with hands-on RPA experience while fostering innovation and continuous improvement in Hong Kong’s healthcare operations.

Quality HealthCare Medical Services (QHMS), one of Hong Kong's leading and long-established healthcare providers, has joined hands with the School of Accounting and Finance (AF) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) to launch a strategic internship programme centered on Robotic Process Automation (RPA). The collaboration is expected to enhance the efficiency of internal workflows at QHMS while providing hands-on experience for undergraduate students in digital process transformation.

The partnership strengthens QHMS's commitment toward developing future talent while exploring innovative technologies that drive excellence in healthcare operations. Robotic Process Automation involves the conduct of repetitive and rule-based digital tasks, such as data entry, file management, and system navigation, by software robots. Organizations can reduce the amount of manual work and improve consistency by adopting RPA, freeing human resources for higher-value work.

Led by PolyU's School of Accounting and Finance, six students are working on designing and implementing nine RPA use cases across five QHMS departments, with more projects lined up for subsequent phases. These automations collectively contribute approximately 1,600 man-hours of time savings per month, or measurable productivity improvements across the organization.

Key projects in development include the automation of clinic report digitization, billing query management, and amendment form handling. The Clinic Report Digitization project, encompassing 20 clinics, is projected to save about 1,320 man-hours a month by automatically generating and processing internal reports. Similarly, billing query management will reduce manual intervention at various touchpoints and accelerate the resolution processes, adding 120 man-hours of savings per month.

Automating the processing of amendment forms will also smoothen the processing of more than 100 scanned forms from clinics to the billing system, adding to improved accuracy and reduced turnaround time. According to Elaine Chu, General Manager of Quality HealthCare Medical Services, the program allows the organization to experiment with emerging technologies in a structured and low-risk environment while contributing to student learning.

She added that the collaboration demonstrates how academia and the healthcare sector together can create mutual value: "By working alongside students, our teams gain new perspectives on how technology can be leveraged to enhance efficiency," she noted, adding, "This initiative supports our broader goal of driving continuous improvement in healthcare operations".

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This internship is specifically designed for undergraduate business students and offers them the chance to contribute meaningfully to automation projects as non-technical students. Each of the participants will engage in a 24-week internship over two semesters, with a commitment of about 10 to 14 hours per week to project work. Prior to commencing the internship, students undergo a five-day training course covering the basics of RPA design, development, and deployment to equip them to actively contribute to building automation solutions under professional guidance. Throughout the internship, students will be developing and refining RPA bots, compiling process documentation, and preparing summary reports reflective of their learning outcomes and project impacts.

Professor Brian Kei, Professor of Practice (FinTech) at the School of Accounting and Finance, emphasized how the program bridges academic knowledge to real-world application: "This collaboration offers students a unique opportunity to put their analytical and problem-solving skills into real-world practice", he stated. "Moreover, this opens their eyes to how digital transformation is affecting critical sectors like healthcare". Besides the technical benefits, the RPA internship helps foster a culture of innovation within QHMS through increasing the exposure of staff to digital tools and enabling them to identify opportunities for process improvement.

In the future, QHMS will expand its collaboration with higher educational institutions across Hong Kong to create more opportunities for internships and applied learning in support of innovation-driven projects within healthcare operations. In this process, the organization aims at developing future-ready talent, enhancing workforce capabilities, and reinforcing the culture of continuous improvement within the Hong Kong healthcare ecosystem.