GOPC PPP in Focus |
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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.
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"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 |
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| Channels
resources for treating patients with more serious medical conditions |
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| Allows
patients to have higher flexibility and better convenience in
choosing healthcare providers |
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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.
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Dr
Li Shun-cheong
Participating
PMP of GOPC PPP in Wong Tai Sin district
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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."
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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."
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Other PMPs View on eHR Sharing |
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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
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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
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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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