eHealth App introduces new function for viewing radiology reports
The Health Bureau (HHB) announced today (April 3) that eHealth users can now view radiology reports deposited into their eHealth accounts by the Hospital Authority, the Department of Health and private healthcare providers (HCPs) through the eHealth mobile application (eHealth App), allowing citizens to better understand and manage their health.
Users can generally view the radiology reports through the "Investigations" function of the App 14 days after the reports are released, and the App's information centre will also issue relevant notifications. The HHB advises citizens to first enquire whether the HCPs can deposit examination records into their personal eHealth accounts when selecting private HCPs for radiological examinations, to enable the building of a comprehensive electronic health record (eHR).
Currently, all public HCPs and over 115 private HCPs with more than 550 service locations in total, including private hospitals, medical group practices and radiological examination centres, are technically ready. If citizens have given "sharing consent" to relevant private HCPs, their radiology reports can then be deposited in their eHealth accounts for access by the citizens and other authorised healthcare professionals. As at the end of February this year, a total of 40 private HCPs (involving nearly 100 service locations) have deposited radiology reports into the eHealth accounts of over 3.1 million citizens upon obtaining their authorisations.
A spokesman for the HHB said, "Under the eHealth+ five-year development plan, we are committed to building a personal lifelong eHR profile and a comprehensive personal medical record for every citizen, while creating a one-stop comprehensive health portal through the eHealth App to help citizens manage their health records, access health information, monitor personal health and establish a healthier lifestyle. With the further enhancement of the App's function, radiology reports of citizens from both public and private HCPs, as well as those from various government-subsidised healthcare programmes (such as the Project on Enhancing Radiological Investigation Services through Collaboration with the Private Sector), are consolidated for citizens' access at any time, eliminating the inconvenience of storing paper reports and saving costs on redundant tests. This also facilitates authorised HCPs in conducting analysis and comparison, thereby providing a seamless and personalised care journey for citizens."
Since the launch of the eHealth App in 2021, the Government has progressively expanded the health records available for citizens' viewing. Currently, eHealth users can access nine types of eHRs, namely, personal identification and demographic data, allergies and adverse drug reactions, encounters and appointments, immunisation records, medication records, laboratory and radiology reports, healthcare referrals, observation and lifestyle records, as well as medical certificates. In the future, the Government will gradually make more health records available for citizen's viewing, including radiology images, Chinese medicine prescription records as well as dental check-ups records and dental conditions.
The Government will continue to take a multipronged approach to encourage and facilitate the deposit of citizens' eHRs into eHealth by private HCPs, thereby assisting citizens in accessing, managing and using their own eHRs during the healthcare process. Through the eHealth website (www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/index.html), citizens can easily identify the scope of medical records that an HCP is capable of depositing into their personal eHealth accounts. In addition, the Government will launch an eHealth+ accreditation scheme in 2025 to further assist citizens in choosing suitable HCPs, so as to ensure that their medical records will be deposited into their personal eHealth accounts.
The Government announced the rollout of the eHealth+ five-year plan in the 2023 Policy Address, with a view to transforming eHealth into a comprehensive healthcare information infrastructure that integrates multiple functions of healthcare data sharing, service delivery and care journey management. eHealth+ aims to bring about a more seamless and personalised care journey for every citizen and facilitate care co-ordination and cross-sector collaboration, as well as health management and health surveillance, thus enabling citizens to enjoy higher-quality healthcare services while effectively supporting various healthcare policies.
For more information, citizens may visit the eHealth thematic website (app.ehealth.gov.hk/index.html?lang=en) or call the hotline at 3467 6300. The hotline service runs from 9am to 9pm from Mondays to Fridays (except public holidays).
