Hong Kong Private Doctors Not Ready for e-Health Records – but are using plenty of computer technology

This sounds like a lot of what we have here, perhaps not an official electronic medical record, but Word documents, images, etc. stored on the hard drives of computers in doctors offices with 76% commenting in this direction from the survey. BD

Nearly 80 percent of private doctors in Hong Kong feel they lack IT know-how and relevant training when it comes to e-health record, though at the same time the same percentage of them support the introduction of a territory wide e-health record platform, said eHealth Consortium Monday.

Established since 2005, eHealth Consortium is a non-profit organization in Hong Kong that advocates the development of eheath in the SAR and China.

"The survey findings show that private doctors take a positive attitude toward computerization but at the same time they face technical problems during implementation," said co-chairman of eHealth Consortium Executive Committee, Dr Wong Chun Por. "Their concern can be seen in their lack of sufficient confidence and resources in applying clinic computerization, making it impossible to introduce e-health record all by themselves in the short term. As compared with other regions, the number of private clinics in Hong Kong using electronic health records remains relatively low."

More than 80 percent of them own more than one computer and hire at least one staffer to operate the computer. Among the private clinics with computers, 87 percent of them make use of the machines for administrative work such as registration, making appointments and payments.

Meanwhile, 76 percent of them use computers for clinical use to store patient data, summaries and reports as well as to write and store referral letters.