eHealth News 07

GOPC PPP in Focus

eHRSS - A Breakthrough in e-Government Initiatives

In mid-2014, the Hospital Authority (HA) launched, on a pilot basis, the General Outpatient Clinic Public-Private Partnership Programme (GOPC PPP) in the Kwun Tong, Wong Tai Sin and Tuen Mun districts. Warm response has been garnered from the community, patients and private medical practitioners (PMPs).

As at end of March 2015, over 80 PMPs have participated in the Programme. eHealth News has interviewed Dr Gary Au Ka-kui and Dr Li Shun-cheong, who shared with us their experience on the GOPC PPP and visions towards eHealth Record (eHR) sharing.

"The GOPC PPP helps achieve a triple-win situation between the healthcare system, patients, and PMPs. Patients' responses have been positive as they have a choice of service providers. It fosters continuity of healthcare while strengthening primary healthcare, and practically we have gained more business," Dr Gary Au Ka-kui remarked.

Benefits of GOPC PPP

Alleviates the pressure of the HA GOPCs
Channels resources for treating patients with more serious medical conditions
Allows patients to have higher flexibility and better convenience in choosing healthcare providers

Dr Gary Au Ka-kui

Participating PMP of GOPC PPP in Kwun Tong district

Positions held at the Hong Kong Medical Association (HKMA), 2014-2015:

Chairman, Kowloon East Community Network
Member, the Task Force on "Exercise of Health" Project
Member, the Task Force on Public Private Partnership
Member, the Task Force on Vaccination PPI

eHR Sharing in GOPC PPP

An important aspect of the GOPC PPP is the sharing of electronic health records through the HA's Public Private Interface - Electronic Patient Record Sharing Pilot Project (PPI-ePR). This PPI-ePR infrastructure serves as the forerunner for the Electronic Health Record Sharing System (eHRSS).

Dr Au said it is essential for PMPs to input basic information in the PPI-ePR system for the GOPC PPP. "The requirement is very reasonable. So far I have seldom encountered problem with the PPI-ePR system. We have been using a clinical management system and basically do not keep paper records," he said.

Reducing Adverse Events

Dr Au recalled from his experience on using PPI-ePR and believed that eHR sharing would be beneficial for doctors by providing important patient information for healthcare decision making. "It can save patients from undergoing unnecessary treatment and duplicated medical investigations, which in turn saves their time and money," he said.

Real-life Case 1: Information on Hand to Avoid Serious Consequence

"A 30-year old woman who suffered from upper respiratory tract infection and fever came to see me. She knew that she had some kinds of drug allergy but could not provide details. As the patient had previously joined the GOPC PPP, I could find out from the HA's PPI-ePR system that she had allergic history towards paracetamol, which could cause severe seizures and potential fatality. Paracetamol is a very common drug for inflammations with extremely rare chance of allergies. In the absence of information, the consequence could be serious or even fatal."

Real-life Case 2: Unclear Vaccination History in the Absence of Information Sharing

""A mother took her 7-year-old son to my clinic and wanted to give him a chickenpox vaccination. However, she was not sure if her son had previously been vaccinated, and could not recall the name of paediatrician in the North District he used to visit. After some search, we finally managed to locate the paediatrician and confirmed that the boy was already vaccinated. If the eHRSS is available to medical practitioners and patients, important medical records like this will be more readily available."

Dr Au said PPP programmes and eHR sharing can also drive developments for each other. "Through the PPP efforts, people will become more familiar with eHR sharing, thereby increasing collaboration opportunities. We can also consider expanding PPP programmes to cover specialist outpatient services for some minor mental illnesses and urological problems," he suggested.

Dr Li Shun-cheong

Participating PMP of GOPC PPP in Wong Tai Sin district

 

Providing Continuous Care

Dr Li Shun-cheong, another doctor who has joined the GOPC PPP, also shared his positive views towards the sharing of patients' electronic medical records. "The smooth flow of secured patient information enables connectivity among healthcare providers. It's important for delivering long-term patient care," said Dr Li.

Real-life Cases: Follow-up on Chronic Patients

"I once had two patients who were chronic cases of the HA. One of them suffered from hypertension and had joined the GOPC PPP. Hence, he came to me for continuous treatment and medication. The other, who had enrolled into the PPI-ePR, had a colon cancer surgery and came to me for follow-up care. I got their medical records from the PPI-ePR system, which helped me provide appropriate care and medication."

eHRSS platform
common infrastructure for the PPP programmes more efficient integration of PPP data with the eHRSSeasy access to eHRSS and different PPP programmes in a secured manner powerful motivating force for private medical professionals to participate in the eHRSS

Agreeing that PPP programmes and eHR sharing are complementing each other, Dr Li said, "With more participation in PPP programmes, people will find more merits in eHR sharing. With experience and feedback gathered, improvements will be made. The resulting improvements will encourage more people to join the PPP programmes and use eHRSS. It's a spiralling effect."

Other PMPs View on eHR Sharing


You have to let them (PMPs) know the benefits they will receive from the computerisation of medical records and also the compelling reasons for them to make a change of their current practice.

Dr Tse Hung-hing,
Immediate Past President of the Hong Kong Medical Association


With the SAAM (the Structured Allergy / Alert Module of the CMS Adaptation) in place, doctors, nurses and pharmacists in out-patient and in-patient divisions can efficiently access the updated information of patients in the same database. In this way, the medical staff can be effectively alerted of the allergic conditions of each patient.

Dr C M Wong,
Medical Superintendent of St. Teresa's Hospital

 


The overall workflow in the outpatient department has been very smooth and efficient with the imp;ementation of CMS On-ramp.

Dr Anne Kwan
Immediate Past Hospital Superintendent of Evangel Hospital

 

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Last revision date: 30 May 2015

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