LCQ13: Cross-boundary use of Electronic Health System
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Question:
Starting in 2024, the Government has rolled out two functions of the eHealth mobile application, namely "Cross-boundary Health Record" and "Personal Folder", to enable citizens to securely use their electronic health records across the boundary at designated medical institutions outside Hong Kong, thereby enhancing continuity of care. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) since December 24, 2025, when the "Cross-boundary Health Record" function was expanded from being limited to elderly citizens eligible for health care vouchers to approximately 6.3 million eHealth users in Hong Kong, of the number of Hong Kong citizens who have applied for and used the "Cross-boundary Health Record" function each month;
(2) with the Electronic Health Record Sharing System (Amendment) Ordinance 2025 passed by the Legislative Council in July last year and came into effect on December 1 of the same year, the Commissioner for the Electronic Health Record is empowered to recognise individual healthcare providers and public health record systems outside Hong Kong, provided that data privacy and system security are sufficiently protected and specified requirements and conditions are duly complied with, of the progress and timeline for implementing the recognition arrangement; and
(3) as I have recently received a complaint alleging that a member of the public presented a test report issued by a designated medical institution outside Hong Kong to a local public hospital doctor for reference, and that it is understood that the public hospital doctor refused to accept the report, citing it as "incomprehensible", and requested the complainant to schedule the same test again in Hong Kong; and as the Government stated in its reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council on February 25, 2026 that it would further deepen cross-boundary medical record sharing through eHealth, whether the Government has any plans currently to optimise the existing practice, so that Hong Kong public hospitals will accept health examination reports issued by designated medical institutions outside Hong Kong, thereby avoiding the need for members of the public to undergo the same examinations repeatedly; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
eHealth is a territory-wide electronic health record sharing system launched by the Government in 2016 that enables citizens to authorise healthcare providers (HCPs) in the public and private sectors to view and share their electronic health records (eHRs) for healthcare purposes. Building on the strengths of eHealth, the Government announced in the 2023 Policy Address the initiative to roll out a five-year development plan of eHealth+ to transform eHealth into a comprehensive healthcare information infrastructure that integrates multiple functions of data sharing, service delivery and care journey management. eHealth+ aims to facilitate care co-ordination, cross-sector collaboration, as well as active health management and surveillance, thereby better serving citizens in obtaining optimal healthcare services, and supporting the healthcare reform and various healthcare policies more effectively, such as primary healthcare and cross-boundary healthcare services. The Government is taking forward the eHealth+ development in phases in accordance with the patient-centric principle and four strategic directions, namely One Health Record, One Care Journey, One Digital Front Door to Empowering Tool, and One Health Data Repository.
To dovetail with cross-boundary healthcare collaborations, the Government has progressively launched the "Cross-boundary Health Record" and "Personal Folder" functions of the eHealth App at 20 medical institutions, including the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital (HKU-SZH) and medical institutions under the Elderly Health Care Voucher Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme since 2024. These two functions facilitate Hong Kong citizens to securely use their eHRs across the boundary under the principle of "bring your own health records", thereby enhancing continuity of care. The "Cross-boundary Health Record" function enables eHealth users to apply for their eHRs deposited in eHealth over the preceding three years and to authorise the healthcare professionals of designated medical institutions outside Hong Kong to access the eHRs during consultations to assist with diagnosis and treatment. In addition, users may deposit the medical records obtained outside Hong Kong in their personal eHealth accounts via the "Personal Folder" function to facilitate centralised storage and usage, including allowing authorised HCPs in Hong Kong to access through eHealth during follow-up care.
In December 2025, the Government extended the "Cross-boundary Health Record" function, which was previously limited to eligible elderly recipients of the Elderly Health Care Vouchers (EHCVs), to all eHealth users in Hong Kong. Besides, the Government upgraded the "Personal Folder" function in January 2026. Before receiving radiology services at the three designated medical institutions outside Hong Kong (namely the HKU-SZH, Zhongshan Chen Xinghai Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, and Shenzhen New Frontier United Family Hospital), citizens may authorise them to directly deposit high-resolution radiology reports and images, which are often challenging for users to upload themselves, into their personal eHealth accounts.
The Government will continue to maintain close communication with the relevant Mainland authorities and medical institutions in expanding and deepening cross-boundary medical record sharing orderly through eHealth, with a view to supporting the cross-boundary healthcare needs of citizens more effectively as well as enhancing the quality and safety of cross-boundary medical services.
In consultation with the Hospital Authority (HA), the reply to the questions raised by the Hon Chris Ip is as follows:
(1) As at April 2026, over 32 500 citizens have used the "Cross-boundary Health Record" and "Personal Folder" functions of the eHealth App. Detailed statistics are as follows:
| Function | Total number of users | Average number of users per month in the past three months (Note) | |
| "Cross-boundary Health Record" | 21 170 | 3 703 | |
| "Personal Folder" | Self-deposit health record | 10 457 | 1 169 |
| Authorise designated medical institutions to deposit radiology reports and images | 6 789 | 2 062 | |
Note: In the past three months, an average of about 10 000 eligible elderly persons have used EHCVs per month across the 20 designated medical institutions in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).
(2) To more effectively support the five-year development plan of eHealth+, the Electronic Health Record Sharing System (Amendment) Ordinance 2025 (Amendment Ordinance) came into effect on December 1, 2025, expanding and enhancing the data collection, sharing, usage and protection mechanism of eHealth. Among other things, the Amendment Ordinance has introduced provisions that empower the Commissioner for the Electronic Health Record (eHRC) to recognise individual non-Hong Kong HCPs and public health record systems, subject to sufficient protection of data privacy and system security, as well as due compliance with specified requirements and conditions. If a citizen receives services from a recognised non-Hong Kong HCP, he/she may authorise that HCP to access his/her eHealth records and to deposit the post-consultation health records directly into his/her personal eHealth account.
The Government will progressively implement the recognition arrangements drawing on the experience gained from the above-mentioned eHealth cross-boundary functions, while dovetailing with various cross-boundary health collaboration initiatives and the cross-boundary healthcare needs of citizens. In particular, the Government will formulate a set of Code of Practice (COP) to prescribe the recognition arrangements and conditions, in accordance with the Amendment Ordinance, other relevant laws and regulations, as well as the Government Information Technology Security Policy and Guidelines promulgated by the Digital Policy Office. The COP will cover technical requirements, security and privacy standards, as well as supervisory and incident response mechanisms, with a view to effectively safeguarding the system security and data privacy of eHealth. The eHRC may suspend or revoke the relevant recognition of a non-Hong Kong HCP or public health record system in case the recognition conditions are contravened or the recognition may impair the security or compromise the integrity of eHealth.
To ensure that there are sufficient leverages in place for the eHRC to enforce the imposed conditions and the regulatory compliance in the relevant jurisdictions, the Government will, inter alia, enter into contracts or agreements with the recognised non-Hong Kong HCPs or public health record system operators to provide legal basis for the cross-boundary sharing and use of eHRs. This will ensure the legality of cross-boundary data transmission and safeguard the security of personal data.
(3) At present, after citizens have deposited medical records obtained outside Hong Kong in their personal eHealth accounts via the "Personal Folder" function, medical institutions in Hong Kong (including the HA) may, in accordance with the principles of "patient under care" and "need-to-know", access the relevant records through eHealth with the citizens' consent to assist in clinical diagnosis.
Generally speaking, when patients seek consultation at hospitals or clinics under the HA, doctors will provide appropriate treatment, arrange examinations or make referrals based on patients' clinical condition and medical records. During the process, doctors will exercise their professional judgement to assess whether it is necessary to make reference to patients' relevant eHealth records and any other medical information provided by patients, including diagnostic or medical reports issued by local or non-local healthcare institutions, so as to ensure the comprehensiveness and accuracy of their clinical decisions. Regardless of whether the report was issued by a local or non-local healthcare institution, a doctor may, after reviewing the relevant report and based on a variety of clinical reasons, still recommend that the patient undergo the same examination. For example, an imaging examination may require the use of different techniques (such as Computed Tomography volumetry or 3D reconstruction); a blood test (such as a tumour marker test) may need to be repeated for comparison purpose; and the results of an ultrasound examination may vary depending on the operator.
As at April 2026, Hong Kong healthcare institutions have accessed the health records deposited by citizens via the "Personal Folder" function over 4 500 times, of which around one-third were made by the HA. Besides, Hong Kong healthcare institutions have made more than 600 accesses of radiology reports deposited by designated GBA medical institutions authorised by citizens, of which more than 80 per cent were from the HA. The HA will step up its efforts to promote the effective use of the eHealth platform among frontline doctors, with a view to assisting them in gaining a more comprehensive understanding of patients' conditions, thereby responding to patients' health needs more effectively, while minimising unnecessary repeated examinations and reducing the cost of care.
Ends/Wednesday, May 27, 2026
Issued at HKT 15:00
Issued at HKT 15:00
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