Image sharing of "e-Health Record Sharing System eHRSS"

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HKSAR Government

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香港特別行政區政府
食物及衞生局

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Dear Yijia ZHAO,

The Food and Health Bureau (FHB) has received your application under the
Code on Access to Information on 30 September 2021. Your application is
now under processing.
According to paragraph 1.16 of the Code on Access to Information, you will
be informed of the latest progress of the case separately on or before 20
October 2021.

In the meantime, please contact us by e-mail at [1][Food and Health Bureau request email] if
you have any enquiry. Thank you.

(Miss S MAN)
Food and Health Bureau

From: Yijia ZHAO <[2][email address]>
To: [3][Food and Health Bureau request email],
Date: 02/10/21 04:17 PM
Subject: Re: ATI Request about eHRSS information

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Dear Miss TO,
Here's 5 follow-up questions we submitted via [4]accessinfo.hk, which can
be found via the link
"[5]https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/another....
Under the Code on Access to Information, please provide us with:
1): The total number of health care practitioners that signed up for the
eHRSS;
2): The total number of private health care institutions that signed up
for the eHRSS;
3): The total number of times those private and public registered health
care practitioners access patient's information via eHRSS.
4): The total number of medical investigation images (such as X-ray
images) shared through eHRSS, and the total number of medical
investigation reports (i.e., word version instead of image) shared through
eHRSS in the past 6, 12, and 24 months.
5): Has the Food and Health Bureau collected the user feedback of
healthcare practitioners on eHealth?
Thanks in advance for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
ZHAO, Yijia

On Fri, Oct 1, 2021 at 10:11 AM Yijia ZHAO <[6][email address]>
wrote:
Dear Miss TO,
We are students from Hongkong Baptist University.
We are doing research based on the government program “e-Health Record
Sharing System (eHRSS)" and trying to evaluate it and help improve
it.We've already submitted a request to the Food and Health Bureau via
[7]accessinfo.hk, which can be found via the links
"[8]https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/image_s...
Here's a copy of all the information we request. Please answer the
following questions under the Code on Access to Information:
1): We learnt from
“[9]https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/tc/faq/index....
that “Private sector HCPs (hospitals or radiology centres) will begin
sharing radiology images in late 2021.”, and that “HCPs must develop an
interface and complete testing with eHealth for sharing radiology images”.
However, regarding details of radiology images sharing,
“[10]https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/whats-ehea...
simply mentions that “images, such as clinical photos or tracing, could
be included”. So please provide us with the updated information about the
radiology image sharing process by September, 2021.

2): How and exactly what necessary infrastructure is needed for private
sector HCPs to share images and get access to a patient's radiology image?

3): What kind of help can you offer to facilitate radiology image sharing
between private sector HCPs and public hospitals?

4): Starting from early this year until September 2021, how many private
sector HCPs have already successfully become qualified to share images,
and get access to the shared radiology images?

5): Have you received any request from private health care
practitioners/institutions for help regarding image uploading and
downloading? If so, what kinds of difficulties have those private HCPs
encountered?

6): Apart from radiology images, how about other investigational images,
such as images of cytology, histology, ECG, endoscopy and ultrasonography?
Please inform us of whether and when these images will be included as
well in the sharable scope of eHRSS.
Thanks in advance for your attention. Looking forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
ZHAO, Yijia

From: Simon H WANG <[11][email address]>
To: [12][Food and Health Bureau request email],
Cc: Yijia ZHAO <[13][email address]>
Date: 01/10/21 07:26 PM
Subject: Re: ATI Request about eHRSS information

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Sir/Madam
To process our Code on Access to Information application please
kindly respond to the email from [14]accessinfo.hk
[15]https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/image_s... and
include me and Yijia in the email loop.
Yours sincerely
Simon

On Fri, 1 Oct 2021 at 10:12, Yijia ZHAO <[16][email address]>
wrote:
Dear Miss TO,
We are students from Hongkong Baptist University.
We are doing research based on the government program “e-Health Record
Sharing System (eHRSS)" and trying to evaluate it and help improve
it.We've already submitted a request to the Food and Health Bureau via
[17]accessinfo.hk, which can be found via the links
"[18]https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/image_s...
Here's a copy of all the information we request. Please answer the
following questions under the Code on Access to Information:
1): We learnt from
“[19]https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/tc/faq/index....
that “Private sector HCPs (hospitals or radiology centres) will begin
sharing radiology images in late 2021.”, and that “HCPs must develop an
interface and complete testing with eHealth for sharing radiology images”.
However, regarding details of radiology images sharing,
“[20]https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/whats-ehea...
simply mentions that “images, such as clinical photos or tracing, could
be included”. So please provide us with the updated information about the
radiology image sharing process by September, 2021.

2): How and exactly what necessary infrastructure is needed for private
sector HCPs to share images and get access to a patient's radiology image?

3): What kind of help can you offer to facilitate radiology image sharing
between private sector HCPs and public hospitals?

4): Starting from early this year until September 2021, how many private
sector HCPs have already successfully become qualified to share images,
and get access to the shared radiology images?

5): Have you received any request from private health care
practitioners/institutions for help regarding image uploading and
downloading? If so, what kinds of difficulties have those private HCPs
encountered?

6): Apart from radiology images, how about other investigational images,
such as images of cytology, histology, ECG, endoscopy and ultrasonography?
Please inform us of whether and when these images will be included as
well in the sharable scope of eHRSS.
Thanks in advance for your attention. Looking forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

ZHAO, Yijia
--
Dr Simon Wang, Ph.D., FHEA
Lecturer in English
Language Centre
Hong Kong Baptist University
Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong
Phone: (852) 34117044
[21]http://lc.hkbu.edu.hk/staff_simon.php
[22]Writing for the Public Project

From: Yijia ZHAO <[23][email address]>
To: [24][Food and Health Bureau request email],
Cc: [25][email address]
Date: 01/10/21 10:11 AM
Subject: ATI Request about eHRSS information

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Miss TO,
We are students from Hongkong Baptist University.
We are doing research based on the government program “e-Health Record
Sharing System (eHRSS)" and trying to evaluate it and help improve
it.We've already submitted a request to the Food and Health Bureau via
[26]accessinfo.hk, which can be found via the links
"[27]https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/image_s...
Here's a copy of all the information we request. Please answer the
following questions under the Code on Access to Information:
1): We learnt from
“[28]https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/tc/faq/index....
that “Private sector HCPs (hospitals or radiology centres) will begin
sharing radiology images in late 2021.”, and that “HCPs must develop an
interface and complete testing with eHealth for sharing radiology images”.
However, regarding details of radiology images sharing,
“[29]https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/whats-ehea...
simply mentions that “images, such as clinical photos or tracing, could
be included”. So please provide us with the updated information about the
radiology image sharing process by September, 2021.

2): How and exactly what necessary infrastructure is needed for private
sector HCPs to share images and get access to a patient's radiology image?

3): What kind of help can you offer to facilitate radiology image sharing
between private sector HCPs and public hospitals?

4): Starting from early this year until September 2021, how many private
sector HCPs have already successfully become qualified to share images,
and get access to the shared radiology images?

5): Have you received any request from private health care
practitioners/institutions for help regarding image uploading and
downloading? If so, what kinds of difficulties have those private HCPs
encountered?

6): Apart from radiology images, how about other investigational images,
such as images of cytology, histology, ECG, endoscopy and ultrasonography?
Please inform us of whether and when these images will be included as
well in the sharable scope of eHRSS.
Thanks in advance for your attention. Looking forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

ZHAO, Yijia
From: Yijia ZHAO <[30][email address]>
To: FOI requests at Food and Health Bureau
<[31][Food and Health Bureau request email]>,
Date: 30/09/21 11:47 PM
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Another 5 questions about
Image sharing of "e-Health Record Sharing System eHRSS"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Food and Health Bureau,

We are students from Hongkong Baptist University. Now we are doing
research based on the government program “e-Health Record Sharing System
(eHRSS)" . We try to evaluate it and help promote it.

We learned from
“[32]https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/2021...
that

eHRSS and eHealth App registered users have exceeded 4 million and 1.2
million respectively.

And here’s our 5 questions for the Food and Health Bureau to answer under
the Code on Access to Information (we’ve included another 6 questions in
one previous request letter). Please provide us with:

1): The total number of health care practitioners that signed up for the
eHRSS;

2): The total number of private health care institutions that signed up
for the eHRSS;

3): The total number of times those private and public registered health
care practitioners access patient's information via eHRSS.

4): The total number of medical investigation images (such as X-ray
images) shared through eHRSS, and the total number of medical
investigation reports (i.e., word version instead of image) shared through
eHRSS in the past 6, 12, and 24 months.

5): Has the Food and Health Bureau collected the user feedback of
healthcare practitioners on eHealth?

Thanks in advance for your attention to this matter.

Yours faithfully,

Yijia ZHAO

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a request under the Code of Access to Information facilitated via
the accessinfo.hk website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[33][email address]

Is [34][Food and Health Bureau request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information
requests to Food and Health Bureau? If so, please contact us using this
form:
[35]https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[36]https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Yijia ZHAO <[37][FOI #794 email]>
To: FOI requests at Food and Health Bureau
<[38][Food and Health Bureau request email]>,
Date: 30/09/21 11:40 PM
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Image sharing of
"e-Health Record Sharing System eHRSS"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Food and Health Bureau,

We are students from Hongkong Baptist University. Now we are doing
research based on the government problem “e-Health Record Sharing System
(eHRSS) and try to evaluate it and help promote it. The e-Health record
sharing system allows different medical institutions to share and exchange
information about patients, so that they can provide treatment and
diagnosis to patients in a more timely manner, and reduce the repetition
of pre-diagnosis tests.

However, we find that the shared information is limited and the efficiency
is kind of low, which makes it inconvenient for medical institutions and
doctors.

And here’s some of our questions for the Food and Health Bureau to answer
under the Code on Access to Information (we’ll list out our second part of
questions in another request letter):

1): We learnt from
“[39]https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/tc/faq/index....
that “Private sector HCPs (hospitals or radiology centres) will begin
sharing radiology images in late 2021.”, and that “HCPs must develop an
interface and complete testing with eHealth for sharing radiology images”.

However, regarding details of radiology images sharing:

“[40]https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/whats-ehea...
simply mentions that “images, such as clinical photos or tracing, could
be included”.

So please provide us with the updated information about the radiology
image sharing process by September, 2021.

2): How and exactly what necessary infrastructure is needed for private
sector HCPs to share images and get access to a patient's radiology image?

3): What kind of help can you offer to facilitate radiology image sharing
between private sector HCPs and public hospitals?

4): Starting from early this year until September 2021, how many private
sector HCPs have already successfully become qualified to share images,
and get access to the shared radiology images through eHRSS?

5): Have you received any request from private health care
practitioners/institutions for help regarding image uploading and
downloading? If so, what kinds of difficulties have those private HCPs
encountered?

6): Apart from radiology images, how about other investigational images
apart from radiology images, such as images of cytology, histology, ECG,
endoscopy and ultrasonography? So please inform us of whether and when
these images will be included as well in the sharable scope of eHRSS.

Thanks in advance for your attention to this matter.

Yours faithfully,

Yijia ZHAO

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a request under the Code of Access to Information facilitated via
the accessinfo.hk website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[41][FOI #794 email]

Is [42][Food and Health Bureau request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information
requests to Food and Health Bureau? If so, please contact us using this
form:
[43]https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[44]https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

References