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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
A Launching Ceremony was held today (March 8) by the Food and Health Bureau (FHB) for the new "Shared Care Programme" to be commenced this month. The Programme pilots a new model of public-private partnership (PPP) in providing comprehensive and multi-disciplinary healthcare services to diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension (HT) patients, so that they can either choose to have their chronic diseases managed by private doctors in the community or keep staying with the Hospital Authority (HA).
HA Director (Cluster Services), Dr Cheung Wai-lun, said at a press conference today, "The Programme is one of the pilot projects to be implemented starting from 2009/10 to enhance support for chronic disease patients. In line with the Government's proposals to enhance primary care as set out in the Healthcare Reform Consultation Document ˇ®Your Health, Your Life', the Shared Care Programme can better serve diabetic and hypertensive patients in their community, with the objectives of enhancing primary care services through a PPP model, facilitating the establishment of long-term doctor-patient relationships, and providing patients with more choices of healthcare services outside the public healthcare system."
In the pilot stage, each participating patient will receive a maximum subsidy of $1,400 from the Government for a period of 12 months for receiving continuous chronic disease management by a participating private medical practitioner (PMP) of his/her choice. This subsidy covers $1,200 for consultation / case management and drugs. Furthermore, the Government will provide an incentive of up to $200 per year for patients who can meet the preset health outcome indicators and complies with the care requirements prescribed by the private doctors. The incentive will be deposited to each patient's electronic voucher account and can be used at future consultations.
"Laboratory tests, investigations and annual complication screening will still be provided by HA during the pilot stage while the results will be forwarded to PMPs for continuous care. To encourage participating PMPs to provide treatment to patients to meet specified process indicators, such as regular monitoring of blood pressure and body weight, the Programme will also provide quality incentive of $200 to participating PMPs. However, PMPs must meet all process indicators in order to get the quality incentive."
"Participating PMPs are required to publicise the fees to be charged for each 12-month period for providing services for treating DM and HT according to specified management model and clinical protocols for patients' reference and the Government will provide a subsidy of $1,200 for consultation/case management and drugs. The fees charged by the PMP will be applicable to all patients under his/her care. On top of the $1,200 subsidy provided by the Government, participating patients have to pay out-of-pocket the fee listed by private doctors for providing services for treating DM and HT according to specified management model and clinical protocols, as well as the fee for any other additional (not subsidised) services." Dr Cheung supplemented that those patients who aged 70 or above and have participated in the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme may use the subsidy for the Shared Care Programme and the Elderly Health Care Vouchers at the same time.
Participating PMPs have access to HA's electronic medical records of participating patients through the Public-Private Interface - Electronic Patient Record Sharing Pilot Project ("PPI-ePR"). HA has also developed an electronic platform for timely, two-way electronic sharing of clinical information between the public and private sectors. "The purpose is to ensure continuity of care through facilitating clinical documentation, communication and keeping track of patients' clinical conditions and outcomes," Dr Cheung remarked.
The Shared Care Programme, which was formally launched today, will be piloted in Sha Tin and Tai Po districts in the New Territories East Cluster (NTEC) of HA. The Cluster Chief Executive of NTEC, Dr Fung Hong, said that the cluster is well prepared to take the challenge.
"We have set up Support Offices with hotline at both Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin and Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital in Tai Po to provide necessary support to both participating patients and PMPs. In fact, PMP enrolment starts this month. A detailed list of participating PMPs will then be compiled for patients' selection. We also plan to send invitation letters to eligible patients in batches and arrange briefing sessions to introduce the Programme details starting from April 2010," Dr Fung said.
An independent assessment body will be engaged to continuously evaluate the arrangements and effectiveness of the Programme during the pilot period. The Government will consider whether the Programme needs to be improved and should be extended to other districts having regard to the evaluation results and experience from the Programme. FHB and HA will also provide support to participating PMPs and patients.
The Chairman of Hong Kong Medical Association (HKMA) Sha Tin Doctors Network, Dr Fung Yee-leung, and Chairman of HKMA Tai Po Community Network, Dr Chiu Sik-ho, welcomed the Programme. "Primary healthcare providers play a vital role in providing care for chronic disease patients. The Shared Care Programme pilots a new service model for chronic disease management in the community so that chronic disease patients are provided with more choices. We believe that the Programme will benefit the patients by offering more flexibility and convenience to them. The Programme will also promote the family-doctor concept and facilitate the establishment of patient-doctor relationships. We are looking forward to the implementation of this Programme."
Ends/Monday, March 8, 2010
Issued at HKT 19:53
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