Private doctors in Hong Kong will receive a government subsidy of HK$6,000 (US$772) by linking their clinical management systems to the official electronic health record platform and continuously uploading patient data for 12 months, as part of a scheme to promote more seamless care between public and private sectors.
Health authorities said on Thursday that the eHealth+ Connectivity Support Scheme hoped to build a complete health record for every resident, allowing doctors from both sectors to provide safer care by accessing essential patient information.
Principal Assistant Secretary for Health Erica Lam Bing-bing said the subsidy scheme aimed to encourage more doctors to adopt or upgrade to systems compatible with eHealth and get them to upload patients’ data to the citywide system upon authorisation.
“We expect a substantial increase in the number of doctors who can [upload data to] the eHealth system in the coming one or two years,” Lam said.
She said that a key challenge in the operation of the electronic health record sharing system, known simply as “eHealth” and launched in 2016, had been the limited contribution of records from the private sector.
While private practitioners account for 60 per cent of those accessing the platform, they have contributed less than 1 per cent of the data, according to official data released in March.
Under the scheme, healthcare providers will receive technical support and a monthly sponsorship of HK$500 per doctor for 12 months, covering around half of the associated costs. They must continue uploading data to eHealth throughout the period.
Lam said around 25,000 private doctors, or around 30 per cent of the total, were already using clinical systems connected to the platform.
Following a legal amendment, the health minister was empowered to mandate data uploads, though Lam said this power would be “kept in reserve” as the government wanted to focus on resolving the technical issues that had hindered participation.

For instance, authorities had worked with clinical management system providers to enhance compatibility with eHealth so that doctors no longer need to enter medical records separately.
“We will review the necessity to introduce the mandate in the future, but rest assured that we will consider the market developments and technology readiness, and communicate with the sector,” she said.
Lam emphasised that doctors could only access patients’ medical records on eHealth with explicit consent granted via the mobile app. Patients could also withdraw their consent at any time.
“Your eHealth account is just like your bank account, as everyone needs your authorisation to read it, only on a need-to-know basis. If a doctor reads your medical record, you will immediately receive an SMS, and you can report to the government if there is any issue,” she said.
Family doctor Lam Wing-wo highlighted that many patients visited both public and private doctors and that using eHealth with a more complete record could ensure continuity of care.
“Without eHealth, we had to rely on patients to recall their prescriptions and test reports [from public hospitals], which could be inaccurate,” he said. “On the other hand, public doctors do not always know when we changed the prescription.”
Lam said eHealth could ensure both sectors stay informed about patients’ latest conditions and provide the most suitable care, adding that “there is more reassurance and improvement.”
Another family doctor, Lam See-yui, said that using eHealth could prevent duplication of tests and prescriptions, improving treatment efficiency and saving patients’ money.
“The doctor-patient relationship will improve, which will increase patients’ compliance when the family doctors they trusted have access to more comprehensive records,” he said.
Once service providers meet the technical requirements to upload patients’ medical records to eHealth, they will receive gold, silver or bronze accreditation, depending on the range of data they can input.
Under the three-tier system, there are five essential data types, including allergies and adverse drug reactions, appointments, medications, immunisation records and laboratory and radiology reports.
A bronze mark signifies the ability to input at least one essential data type, silver covers all five, and gold encompasses additional categories.
Patients can view accreditation levels via the eHealth website or mobile app to make more informed choices when selecting doctors.

Original source: cn