The Health Bureau (HHB) announced today (October 23) that the Community Pharmacy Programme (CPP) (Community) will launch the patient pairing arrangement with designated community pharmacies by the end of October. In addition, the annually adjusted consultation co-payment fees for the screening and treatment phases, as allowed to be set by family doctors participating in the Primary Healthcare Co-care Network (Co-care Network) according to the established mechanism, will take effect from November 1.

CPP (Community)'s patient pairing arrangements 

     To implement the Primary Healthcare Blueprint's recommendations of adopting a multidisciplinary approach for the proper management of chronic diseases in the community, strengthen the professional role of community pharmacists, and provide patients with more options for drug dispensing or refill services, as well as medication counselling and management services in the community, the first phase of the CPP (Community) will be piloted at four districts to launch patient pairing arrangements for designated family doctors participating in the Co-care Network and Family Medicine Clinics of the Hospital Authority (HA), with a total of 20 designated pharmacies across the districts. Upon successful pairing, participating patients will be able to obtain drugs from their preferred pharmacy, with pharmacists providing medication counselling and related drug and health advice, thereby enhancing patients' drug compliance and personal health management. Drug refill services at community pharmacies can also help prevent the accumulation of excess drugs at home by patients, reducing the risk of improper storage and misuse while minimising potential drug wastage.

     The first phase of the programme will be piloted at four districts, namely Eastern, Yau Tsim Mong, Sha Tin and Yuen Long, with five community pharmacies conveniently located near residential areas and shopping malls selected in each district (list set out in Annex). The HHB will invite, in phases, family doctors participating in the Co-care Network to join the programme, and will invite eligible patients to enrol and be paired with a designated community pharmacy of their choice, and brief them on details of the drug dispensing or refill arrangements. In future, the second phase of the programme will cover Southern, Wong Tai Sin, Kwun Tong, Tuen Mun, North and Tai Po districts, while the third phase will cover the remaining eight districts. The HHB will extend services to all 18 districts across the city in the fourth quarter of next year. More eligible pharmacies in each district will also be invited to join the programme thereafter. 

     For those using community pharmacies under the programme, drug co-payment for Co-care Network participants will be charged in accordance with the arrangements of the Community Drug Formulary, while drug fees for HA patients will remain aligned with the HA's prevailing fee schedule. More details on the Community Drug Formulary and the operation of the CPP (Community) will be announced in due course. 

Co-care Network's annual consultation co-payment adjustments

     Under the co-payment model of the Co-care Network, the Government provides a partial subsidy, while participants are required to pay a certain amount of co-payment fee, with a view to encouraging citizens to bear the primary responsibility for their own health. Participating family doctors are allowed to determine the consultation co-payment fees for the screening phase (not more than $120 for cardiovascular disease risk factor screening and not more than $180 for chronic hepatitis B screening) and the treatment phase on their own, and have the fees adjusted once annually according to the established mechanism. The list of consultation co-payment fees for the screening and treatment phases taking effect from November 1 has been uploaded to the dedicated website of the Co-care Network for public reference. Relevant information on the webpage for searching family doctors will also be updated on the same day.

     Regarding the treatment phase, following the co-payment fee adjustment, the proportion of service points charging consultation co-payment fees at or below the Government-recommended level of $150 will remain above 60 per cent (773 service points), while the median co-payment remains at $150. Among the current 1 239 participating service points, 1 022 of them (i.e. 82.5 per cent) will keep their existing co-payment fees unchanged. Twenty-eight service points will reduce their co-payment fees (the median reduction is $100), while the remaining 189 service points will increase their co-payment fees, of which nearly 90 per cent will raise their fees by $50 or below. Overall, the rate of increase of the consultation co-payment fees for the treatment phase is 3.7 per cent in the coming year. For the co-payment fees for the screening phase, the vast majority of service points (over 97 per cent) will charge the Government-recommended co-payment levels. In addition, 28 and 20 service points will charge co-payments below the Government-recommended level for cardiovascular disease risk factor screening and chronic hepatitis B screening respectively.

     As at October 7 (Note 1) this year, more than 300 000 citizens have enrolled in the Co-care Network. Among the participants who have completed cardiovascular disease risk factor screening and/or chronic hepatitis B screening, around 70 000 have been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease risk factors (i.e. suffering from diabetes mellitus, hypertension or hyperlipidaemia, or prediabetes (Note 2)) and/or chronic hepatitis B, and have entered the treatment phase.
 
     For more details of the CPP, members of the public may visit its dedicated website or call the hotline at 2525 2328. For more details of the Co-care Network, members of the public may visit its dedicated website or call the hotline at 2157 0500. Dedicated staff of both hotlines will answer calls from 9am to 9pm from Monday to Saturday.

Note 1: These are provisional figures, subject to revision upon the availability of updated data.
Note 2: Prediabetes refers to HbA1c levels of 6.0-6.4 per cent or FPG levels of 6.1-6.9 mmol/L.

Ends/Friday, October 23, 2026
Issued at HKT 13:11

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