ENG-2014 — Page 187

8

Health

United Christian Hospital and the redevelopment of Kwong Wah Hospital and Queen Mary Hospital are also under way.

Public-private Partnership Projects in Healthcare Services

The government has launched a series of clinical public-private partnership projects through the HA, including the Cataract Surgeries Programme which subsidises patients for cataract surgery performed by private ophthalmologists. By the end of 2014, 113 private ophthalmologists had participated in the programme and more than 20,000 patients had enrolled, of whom over 15,400 had received cataract surgery.

The Haemodialysis Public-Private Partnership Programme provides private haemodialysis services to eligible patients with end-stage renal disease currently under the HA's care. The programme will provide 188 haemodialysis places in 2014-15.

The Pilot Project on Enhancing Radiological Investigation Services through Collaboration with the Private Sector subsidises patients from selected cancer groups for Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging services at private healthcare service providers. By the end of 2014, five private healthcare service providers had participated in the project involving 7,762 attendances with 16,708 investigations completed.

The HA launched the General Outpatient Clinic (GOPC) Public-Private Partnership Programme in Kwun Tong, Wong Tai Sin and Tuen Mun districts in mid-2014 to subsidise HA's GOPC patients with hypertension (with or without hyperlipidemia) in stable condition to receive treatment by private doctors. As at the end of 2014, 84 private doctors and about 2,000 patients had participated in the programme.

Developing Electronic Health Record (EHR) Sharing

The government's Public-Private-Interface Electronic Patient Record Sharing Pilot Project, launched in 2006, aims to enhance continuity of care for patients by enabling participating private healthcare providers and other registered institutions to view the HA's records, subject to patients' consent. As at the end of 2014, more than 405,000 patients, 3,341 private healthcare professionals (2,488 private medical practitioners and 853 nurses), 11 private hospitals and 78 other private organisations or NGOs providing healthcare-related services (including their 439 residential care homes or centres) had participated in the project.

Building on the experience and success of the pilot project, the government is implementing a 10-year programme to develop a territory-wide eHR Sharing System (eHRSS). The development of the core infrastructure of the eHRSS and its main complementary components has been completed. The Electronic Health Record Sharing System Bill was introduced into the Legislative Council in April 2014. Subject to the passage of the bill, the government plans to launch the eHRSS in 2015.

143