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

Yijia ZHAO made this Freedom of Information request to Food and Health Bureau

This request has been closed to new correspondence from the public body. Contact us if you think it ought be re-opened.

The request was partially successful.

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 “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:
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

Food and Health Bureau

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HKSAR Government

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Food and Health Bureau

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

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

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

Visible links
1. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
4. http://accessinfo.hk/
5. https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/another...
6. mailto:[email address]
7. http://accessinfo.hk/
8. https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/image_s...
9. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/tc/faq/index....
10. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/whats-ehea...
11. mailto:[email address]
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14. http://accessinfo.hk/
15. https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/image_s...
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17. http://accessinfo.hk/
18. https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/image_s...
19. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/tc/faq/index....
20. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/whats-ehea...
21. http://lc.hkbu.edu.hk/staff_simon.php
22. https://sites.google.com/a/hkbu.edu.hk/w...
23. mailto:[email address]
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25. mailto:[email address]
26. http://accessinfo.hk/
27. https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/image_s...
28. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/tc/faq/index....
29. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/whats-ehea...
30. mailto:[email address]
31. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
32. https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/2021...
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36. https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers
37. mailto:[FOI #794 email]
38. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
39. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/tc/faq/index....
40. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/whats-ehea...
41. mailto:[FOI #794 email]
42. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
43. https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...
44. https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

Food and Health Bureau

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

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

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

Visible links
1. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
4. http://accessinfo.hk/
5. https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/another...
6. mailto:[email address]
7. http://accessinfo.hk/
8. https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/image_s...
9. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/tc/faq/index....
10. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/whats-ehea...
11. mailto:[email address]
12. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
13. mailto:[email address]
14. http://accessinfo.hk/
15. https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/image_s...
16. mailto:[email address]
17. http://accessinfo.hk/
18. https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/image_s...
19. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/tc/faq/index....
20. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/whats-ehea...
21. http://lc.hkbu.edu.hk/staff_simon.php
22. https://sites.google.com/a/hkbu.edu.hk/w...
23. mailto:[email address]
24. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
25. mailto:[email address]
26. http://accessinfo.hk/
27. https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/image_s...
28. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/tc/faq/index....
29. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/whats-ehea...
30. mailto:[email address]
31. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
32. https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/2021...
33. mailto:[email address]
34. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
35. https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...
36. https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers
37. mailto:[FOI #794 email]
38. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
39. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/tc/faq/index....
40. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/whats-ehea...
41. mailto:[FOI #794 email]
42. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
43. https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...
44. https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

Food and Health Bureau

Dear Yijia ZHAO,
Thank you for your email dated 30 September 2021 enquiring about the
Electronic Health Record Sharing System (eHealth).

As of end-September 2021, about 50 300 healthcare professionals and 2 300
private healthcare providers (HCPs) have joined eHealth.  The total number
of access to Electronic Health Record (eHR) Viewer by HCPs was about 3
million.  The radiology reports uploaded to eHealth in the past 6, 12 and
24 months were about 0.5 million, 1 million and 1.8 million respectively.
 About 5.7 million of radiology studies and 97TB of radiology images were
uploaded to eHealth in the past 6 months.  As radiology images sharing was
launched in March 2021, the figures in the past 12 and 24 months are not
available.

HCPs are welcome to provide their feedback on eHealth to the Electronic
Health Record Registration Office (eHR RO) by telephone, email, fax, post
(details are available at
[1]https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/contact-us...) or through the 醫健
通eHealth App.

Regarding the current radiology images sharing process, HCPs interested in
sharing radiology images should contact eHR RO.  The eHealth project team
will introduce the requirements for data preparation and the existing
workflows to HCPs and provide advice on alignment of technical
requirements and set up.    When the technical setup is ready, a Data
Compliance Test (DCT) will be arranged to test the uploading of images.
 Upon passing the DCT, the interface for image sharing to eHealth is
ready.

Basically, eHealth participating HCPs can view radiology images with an
eHR-compatible computer workstation connected to the internet via the eHR
Viewer.  Details of the technical requirements are available at the
eHealth website
([2]https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/healthcare...).
 A stable internet connection with a bandwidth of at least 50Mbps is
recommended for viewing radiology images smoothly.  For uploading
radiology images, HCPs must meet the eHR technical requirements for
network setup and security, standards of data conformance (i.e. DICOM
conformance), standards and protocols of image data sharing, as well as
prepare the required software, image upload plan and infrastructure for
receiving reports.

In case HCPs encounter technical difficulties in viewing and uploading
radiology images, they may contact eHR RO or their IT vendors for support
and advice where possible.

As of September 2021, the St. Teresa’s Hospital have begun sharing
radiology images to eHealth.  All eHealth participating HCPs, after
obtaining patients’ sharing consent, can view the images through the eHR
Viewer since the launch of radiology image sharing in early 2021.

During the setup and preparation stage for image upload, some HCPs sought
assistance from eHealth project team or their IT vendors for technical
capability upgrade and mapping of data for sharing with eHealth.

You may wish to note that ultrasound image is currently one of the
modalities under radiology images shared in eHealth.  The scope of eHR
sharable data will be continuously reviewed and enhanced.  For more
details and latest development about eHealth, please visit our website
([3]www.ehealth.gov.hk).
 
Electronic Health Record Office
Food and Health Bureau
 
 
 
From: Enquiry FHB [[4]mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]]
Sent: Thursday, October 7, 2021 12:19 PM
To: Yijia ZHAO <[email address]>; Yijia ZHAO
<[FOI #794 email]>
Cc: Simon H WANG <[email address]>; Yijia ZHAO 19250762
<[email address]>
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Image sharing of "e-Health
Record Sharing System eHRSS"
 
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 [5][Food and Health Bureau request email] if
you have any enquiry.  Thank you.
 
(Miss S MAN)
Food and Health Bureau
 
 
From:        Yijia ZHAO <[6][email address]>
To:        [7][Food and Health Bureau request email],
Date:        02/10/21 04:17 PM
Subject:        Re: ATI Request about eHRSS information

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

Dear Miss TO,
Here's 5 follow-up questions we submitted via [8]accessinfo.hk, which can
be found via the link
"[9]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 <[10][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
[11]accessinfo.hk, which can be found via the links
"[12]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
“[13]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,
“[14]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 <[15][email address]>
To:        [16][Food and Health Bureau request email],
Cc:        Yijia ZHAO <[17][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 [18]accessinfo.hk  
[19]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 <[20][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
[21]accessinfo.hk, which can be found via the links
"[22]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
“[23]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,
“[24]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
[25]http://lc.hkbu.edu.hk/staff_simon.php  
[26]Writing for the Public Project  
 
 
From:        Yijia ZHAO <[27][email address]>
To:        [28][Food and Health Bureau request email],
Cc:        [29][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
[30]accessinfo.hk, which can be found via the links
"[31]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
“[32]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,
“[33]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 <[34][email address]>
To:        FOI requests at Food and Health Bureau
<[35][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
“[36]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:

[37][email address]

Is [38][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:

[39]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:

[40]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 <[41][FOI #794 email]>
To:        FOI requests at Food and Health Bureau
<[42][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
“[43]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:

“[44]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:

[45][FOI #794 email]

Is [46][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:

[47]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:

[48]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

Visible links
1. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/contact-us...
2. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/healthcare...
3. http://www.ehealth.gov.hk/
4. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
5. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
6. mailto:[email address]
7. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
8. http://accessinfo.hk/
9. https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/another...
10. mailto:[email address]
11. http://accessinfo.hk/
12. https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/image_s...
13. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/tc/faq/index....
14. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/whats-ehea...
15. mailto:[email address]
16. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
17. mailto:[email address]
18. http://accessinfo.hk/
19. https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/image_s...
20. mailto:[email address]
21. http://accessinfo.hk/
22. https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/image_s...
23. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/tc/faq/index....
24. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/whats-ehea...
25. http://lc.hkbu.edu.hk/staff_simon.php
26. https://sites.google.com/a/hkbu.edu.hk/w...
27. mailto:[email address]
28. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
29. mailto:[email address]
30. http://accessinfo.hk/
31. https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/image_s...
32. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/tc/faq/index....
33. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/whats-ehea...
34. mailto:[email address]
35. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
36. https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/2021...
37. mailto:[email address]
38. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
39. https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...
40. https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers
41. mailto:[FOI #794 email]
42. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
43. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/tc/faq/index....
44. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/whats-ehea...
45. mailto:[FOI #794 email]
46. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
47. https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...
48. https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers

Food and Health Bureau

Dear Yijia ZHAO,
Thank you for your email dated 30 September 2021 enquiring about the
Electronic Health Record Sharing System (eHealth).

As of end-September 2021, about 50 300 healthcare professionals and 2 300
private healthcare providers (HCPs) have joined eHealth.  The total number
of access to Electronic Health Record (eHR) Viewer by HCPs was about 3
million.  The radiology reports uploaded to eHealth in the past 6, 12 and
24 months were about 0.5 million, 1 million and 1.8 million respectively.
 About 5.7 million of radiology studies and 97TB of radiology images were
uploaded to eHealth in the past 6 months.  As radiology images sharing was
launched in March 2021, the figures in the past 12 and 24 months are not
available.

HCPs are welcome to provide their feedback on eHealth to the Electronic
Health Record Registration Office (eHR RO) by telephone, email, fax, post
(details are available at
[1]https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/contact-us...) or through the 醫健
通eHealth App.

Regarding the current radiology images sharing process, HCPs interested in
sharing radiology images should contact eHR RO.  The eHealth project team
will introduce the requirements for data preparation and the existing
workflows to HCPs and provide advice on alignment of technical
requirements and set up.    When the technical setup is ready, a Data
Compliance Test (DCT) will be arranged to test the uploading of images.
 Upon passing the DCT, the interface for image sharing to eHealth is
ready.

Basically, eHealth participating HCPs can view radiology images with an
eHR-compatible computer workstation connected to the internet via the eHR
Viewer.  Details of the technical requirements are available at the
eHealth website
([2]https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/healthcare...).
 A stable internet connection with a bandwidth of at least 50Mbps is
recommended for viewing radiology images smoothly.  For uploading
radiology images, HCPs must meet the eHR technical requirements for
network setup and security, standards of data conformance (i.e. DICOM
conformance), standards and protocols of image data sharing, as well as
prepare the required software, image upload plan and infrastructure for
receiving reports.

In case HCPs encounter technical difficulties in viewing and uploading
radiology images, they may contact eHR RO or their IT vendors for support
and advice where possible.

As of September 2021, the St. Teresa’s Hospital have begun sharing
radiology images to eHealth.  All eHealth participating HCPs, after
obtaining patients’ sharing consent, can view the images through the eHR
Viewer since the launch of radiology image sharing in early 2021.

During the setup and preparation stage for image upload, some HCPs sought
assistance from eHealth project team or their IT vendors for technical
capability upgrade and mapping of data for sharing with eHealth.

You may wish to note that ultrasound image is currently one of the
modalities under radiology images shared in eHealth.  The scope of eHR
sharable data will be continuously reviewed and enhanced.  For more
details and latest development about eHealth, please visit our website
([3]www.ehealth.gov.hk).
 
Electronic Health Record Office
Food and Health Bureau
 
 
 
From: Enquiry FHB [[4]mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]]
Sent: Thursday, October 7, 2021 12:19 PM
To: Yijia ZHAO <[email address]>; Yijia ZHAO
<[FOI #794 email]>
Cc: Simon H WANG <[email address]>; Yijia ZHAO 19250762
<[email address]>
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Image sharing of "e-Health
Record Sharing System eHRSS"
 
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 [5][Food and Health Bureau request email] if
you have any enquiry.  Thank you.
 
(Miss S MAN)
Food and Health Bureau
 
 
From:        Yijia ZHAO <[6][email address]>
To:        [7][Food and Health Bureau request email],
Date:        02/10/21 04:17 PM
Subject:        Re: ATI Request about eHRSS information

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

Dear Miss TO,
Here's 5 follow-up questions we submitted via [8]accessinfo.hk, which can
be found via the link
"[9]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 <[10][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
[11]accessinfo.hk, which can be found via the links
"[12]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
“[13]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,
“[14]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 <[15][email address]>
To:        [16][Food and Health Bureau request email],
Cc:        Yijia ZHAO <[17][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 [18]accessinfo.hk  
[19]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 <[20][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
[21]accessinfo.hk, which can be found via the links
"[22]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
“[23]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,
“[24]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
[25]http://lc.hkbu.edu.hk/staff_simon.php  
[26]Writing for the Public Project  
 
 
From:        Yijia ZHAO <[27][email address]>
To:        [28][Food and Health Bureau request email],
Cc:        [29][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
[30]accessinfo.hk, which can be found via the links
"[31]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
“[32]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,
“[33]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 <[34][email address]>
To:        FOI requests at Food and Health Bureau
<[35][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
“[36]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:

[37][email address]

Is [38][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:

[39]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:

[40]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 <[41][FOI #794 email]>
To:        FOI requests at Food and Health Bureau
<[42][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
“[43]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:

“[44]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:

[45][FOI #794 email]

Is [46][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:

[47]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:

[48]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

Visible links
1. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/contact-us...
2. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/healthcare...
3. http://www.ehealth.gov.hk/
4. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
5. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
6. mailto:[email address]
7. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
8. http://accessinfo.hk/
9. https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/another...
10. mailto:[email address]
11. http://accessinfo.hk/
12. https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/image_s...
13. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/tc/faq/index....
14. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/whats-ehea...
15. mailto:[email address]
16. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
17. mailto:[email address]
18. http://accessinfo.hk/
19. https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/image_s...
20. mailto:[email address]
21. http://accessinfo.hk/
22. https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/image_s...
23. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/tc/faq/index....
24. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/whats-ehea...
25. http://lc.hkbu.edu.hk/staff_simon.php
26. https://sites.google.com/a/hkbu.edu.hk/w...
27. mailto:[email address]
28. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
29. mailto:[email address]
30. http://accessinfo.hk/
31. https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/image_s...
32. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/tc/faq/index....
33. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/whats-ehea...
34. mailto:[email address]
35. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
36. https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/2021...
37. mailto:[email address]
38. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
39. https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...
40. https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers
41. mailto:[FOI #794 email]
42. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
43. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/tc/faq/index....
44. https://www.ehealth.gov.hk/en/whats-ehea...
45. mailto:[FOI #794 email]
46. mailto:[Food and Health Bureau request email]
47. https://accessinfo.hk/en/change_request/...
48. https://accessinfo.hk/en/help/officers