******************************************************
The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The Hospital Authority (HA) today (June 18) announced another new model of public-private collaboration in the provision of primary healthcare services, following the launch of the "Cataract Surgeries Programme" in February this year. The newly launched "Tin Shui Wai Primary Care Partnership Project" purchases primary care services from private doctors in the district for a specified group of patients who have been attending the public general outpatient clinic for chronic illnesses such as hypertension and diabetes.
The HA Director (Cluster Services), Dr Cheung Wai-lun, said the public general outpatient services in Tin Shui Wai at present are mainly provided by the Tin Shui Wai Health Centre. To cater for the increasing population and service demand in the district, HA and the Government have been exploring ways to enhance the existing public primary care services in Tin Shui Wai, in particular in the northern part of the district.
"We decided to conduct a pilot project in the northern part of Tin Shui Wai district to purchase primary care services from the private sector for specified patient groups, and also take the opportunity to explore the feasibility of a public-private partnership in providing primary care services," Dr Cheung remarked.
"Our target is to implement the pilot project from this month in phases and it will last for 36 months. Invitation letters were sent out yesterday to the first batch of eligible patients, and we will organise a briefing session next Monday (June 23) to explain the details of the project. Depending on the response of the first batch of patients, we schedule to send out the second and third batches of invitation letters in August and October this year respectively. The preliminary expectation is that around 1,000 patients with chronic illnesses will choose to join the project. Those who choose not to take part in this project will continue to be taken care of by the public general outpatient clinic."
Dr Cheung continued: "Under the scheme, participating patients may select a private doctor who is practising in the district and has joined the project as their attending doctor. The patients should pay the private doctor the same fee as charged by the general outpatient clinic (i.e. $45 per attendance inclusive of drugs). So far five private doctors have enrolled in this partnership project, representing more than one-third of the 14 private clinics in the district. Participating doctors are required to provide consultation services for a minimum of five days a week with four hours a day, and will receive a total of $150 for each consultation.
"Participating doctors have to input the key clinical information of the patients into the HA patient record database through the Electronic Patient Record Sharing Pilot System provided by HA. The purposes are to allow HA to keep track of the clinical outcomes and conduct monitoring, and to facilitate the provision of continual care to participating patients when they seek consultations at public general outpatient clinics."
HA has set up a help desk and a telephone hotline (2616 4856) at Tin Shui Wai Health Centre to answer queries from members of the public, patients and private doctors on details of the project and also to provide support to those who have participated in the project. A review will be conducted in a year to assess the effectiveness of the project.
On the detailed arrangements of the pilot project, the Service Director (Community Care) of New Territories West Cluster, Dr Au Si-yan, said a maximum of 10 consultations each year will be subsidised for the participating patients attending the private doctors, including at least six treatment consultations of chronic illnesses and additional treatment consultations of episodic illnesses. These minimum six treatment consultations for chronic illnesses will be scheduled evenly within a period of 12 months, that is about once every two months, based on HA's clinical protocols and guidelines on medical treatment and examination.
"Drugs for chronic illnesses will be provided by HA based on its Drug Formulary and the established guidelines for general outpatient clinics. HA will arrange for the drugs for chronic illnesses to be delivered to the clinics of participating doctors in advance for direct prescription. There is no need for participating patients to collect their drugs at the public general outpatient clinic. Drugs for episodic illnesses will be provided by private doctors. General pathological tests and diagnostic radiological services will be provided by HA general outpatient clinics upon referral by the private doctors," Dr Au said.
Ends/Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Issued at HKT 19:27
NNNN
