Strides made in sharing data between public, private institutions
Sharing patient records between public and private institutions will streamline care
Patients lugging unwieldy CT scans and X-rays to their doctor's office could soon be history.
In an eHealth Forum held earlier this month, IT and medical professionals shared the progress of their drive to set up a platform for sharing of electronic medical data between the private and public health sectors.
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"In 2005, medical records in the public sector were accessible to the private sector for the first time, but it was only one-way, with the private sector being able to see records in the public sector," says Dr Cheung Ngai-tseung, chief medical information officer with the Hospital Authority.
"At the end of 2014, it will be mutual sharing. For a patient seeking medical consultation at a private clinic, upon his consent, the clinic can see his medical records [in public hospitals]. He just needs to present his ID card."
Cheung says progress has been attained in the establishment of the mutual platform since the 1990s when the authority developed an electronic system for hospitals.
He says the government is in the process of enacting legislation for the mutual sharing of electronic records.
With the public sector providing the bulk of medical services in Hong Kong - accounting for 77 per cent of all in-patient services - Choy Khai-meng, the authority's chief manager in service transformation and a consultant in public-private partnership with the Food and Health Bureau, says the mutual s haring of data can help lessen the burden on the public medical sector.