LCQ6: Elderly Health Care Voucher Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme
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Following is a concern by the Hon Stanley Ng and a reply by the Acting Secretary for Health, Dr Cecilia Fan, in the Legislative Council today (October 15):
Concern:
The Government released the Elderly Health Care Voucher Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme (the Pilot Scheme) in June in 2015 to extend the protection of the Elderly Health Care Vouchers (EHCVs) to ideal medical organizations in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA). The Pilot Scheme has actually now been encompassed 9 Mainland cities in GBA, with the variety of service points increased to an overall of 21 after the addition of 5 pilot medical organizations in August this year, more improving the protection of cross-boundary health care services. In this connection, will the Government notify this Council:
(1) as the Secretary for Health has actually formerly suggested that the Government is thinking about gradually extending the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme to Fujian Province, of the appropriate concept, particular plans and schedule;
(2) of the number, and the variety of person-times, of Hong Kong seniors who have actually utilized EHCVs in GBA under the Pilot Scheme to date, with a breakdown by city and medical organization; whether the Government has actually evaluated the pertinent utilisation rates and patterns; and
(3) whether, throughout the application of the Pilot Scheme, the SAR Government has developed a coordination system with the appropriate Mainland authorities in regard of the sharing of medical records, payment treatments, medical disagreement resolution systems, the collection of feedback from the senior, and so on, and created particular arrangements or cooperation plans?
Reply:
President,
The Government introduced the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme (EHVS) in 2009 which focuses on supplying monetary rewards, through offering partial aids, for seniors to pick personal main health care (PHC) services that finest match their health requirements. Each qualified senior is presently supplied with a yearly Elderly Health Care Voucher (EHCV) quantity of $2,000, with the build-up limitation of $8,000. The expense for the EHVS increased from $682 million in 2014-15 to $3.424 billion in 2024-25. The approximated expense for the EHVS in 2025-26 is $4.15 billion. As at end-September 2025, over 1.79 million qualified seniors have actually utilized EHCVs.
In assessment with the Department of Health (DH), my reply to the concern raised by the Hon Stanley Ng is as follows:
(1) The Government has actually been actively promoting health care cooperation in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) recently. In order to offer qualified Hong Kong seniors with more options of service points in the GBA, and to provide them more benefit and versatility to much better utilize their EHCVs on PHC services, the Government introduced the Elderly Health Care Voucher Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme (Pilot Scheme) in 2024. Considering that June of the exact same year, the protection of EHCVs has actually been extended by stages to 7 incorporated medical/dental organizations in the GBA, covering Guangzhou, Zhongshan, Dongguan and Shenzhen; amongst them are 2 designated oral organizations in Shenzhen for resolving the need of seniors for oral services. In view of the favorable reactions from the Hong Kong neighborhood on the Pilot Scheme, the Government revealed the extension of the Pilot Scheme in May this year to consist of 12 extra medical organizations to cover 9 Mainland cities in the GBA, and the objective was completely accomplished in August. Together with the 2 existing service points run by the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital (HKU-SZH), qualified seniors can utilize EHCVs at an overall of 21 service points in the Mainland cities in the GBA.
The extension of the Pilot Scheme to complete protection of 9 Mainland cities in the GBA marks another turning point in policy development and medical partnership in between the 2 locations. The Pilot Scheme is still in its preliminary operation duration, we will continue to examine and keep an eye on the operation and use of EHCVs in the pilot medical organizations and examine the efficiency of the Pilot Scheme in due course before studying additional plans.
(2) To guarantee that EHCVs can efficiently continue the policy goal of supporting the execution of PHC services, the scope and concepts of making use of EHCVs under the Pilot Scheme are normally similar to those in Hong Kong and under the HKU-SZH plan. As at end-September 2025, over 23 300 qualified seniors have actually utilized EHCVs to spend for the charges of outpatient health care services got at medical organizations under the Pilot Scheme, including 48 538 coupon claim deals and an overall declared quantity at roughly HK$ 55.99 million. The use of EHCVs by qualified seniors at different pilot medical organizations are set out at Annex. Given that the launch of the Pilot Scheme, the utilisation rate has actually been increasing gradually. The service types for utilizing the EHCVs are generally “follow up/monitoring of long-term conditions” (52 percent) and “preventive” (23 percent). The Pilot Scheme is still in its preliminary operation duration and a few of the pilot medical organizations have actually run for just a few months, needing more time for additional observation. We will continue to evaluate and keep track of the operation and use of EHCVs in the pilot medical organizations before more evaluating pertinent information.
(3) To make sure the appropriate usage of public cash, the DH embraces a robust tracking system for monitoring and auditing coupon claims under the EHVS. The existing tracking system, that includes steps such as regular monitoring, tracking and examining in regard of aberrant deals, in addition to auditing coupon claims, is likewise appropriate to the HKU-SZH and medical organizations taking part in the Pilot Scheme. The DH has actually likewise developed a system with the health authority of Guangdong Province, through which the health authority of Guangdong Province will offer support to the DH when essential, with a view to boosting its tracking abilities. The Government will continue to preserve close contact with the health authority of Guangdong Province to guarantee the smooth application of the tracking system in the pilot medical organizations. The DH supplies channels such as telephone hotline and e-mail under the EHVS to Hong Kong seniors for making queries or grievances on making use of EHCVs and medical organizations under the Pilot Scheme. Based upon the nature of grievances, the DH will strictly handle all believed cases of breaking the EHVS guidelines and take suitable follow-up steps.
In addition, the DH has actually signed service contracts with all pilot medical organizations, which cover and mention plainly the pertinent practices on the suitable usage of EHCVs, along with the plans on monetary matters and system setups, and so on. The Government has actually worked together with all pilot medical organizations to settle the pertinent plans under the service contract. All 19 pilot medical organizations have actually been running efficiently considering that the launch of the Pilot Scheme in June 2024.
Presently, Mainland medical organizations, consisting of the quality of scientific services and the charges charged, go through rigorous guidance by appropriate regional authorities. Each medical organization under the Pilot Scheme has actually established its own query or grievance hotline. Hong Kong seniors can use various channels (consisting of telephone hotline or e-mail) to straight submit any problems, consisting of medical events, concerning the pilot medical organizations, or lodge problems versus the medical organizations under the Pilot Scheme to the health authority at the provincial or community level if essential. The pertinent medical organization and the regional regulative authorities will act on the matter. The DH has likewise combined appropriate details on the channels for reporting or lodging problems, and submitted the information to the EHVS site for public recommendation.
Concerning medical records, the Government has actually been keeping close intermediary with the appropriate Mainland authorities to take forward the sharing of cross-boundary medical records, in accordance with the overarching concepts of guaranteeing due compliance of laws and guidelines of Hong Kong and the Mainland which information security and clients’ personal privacy are totally secured. In specific, the Government released 2 eHealth App functions, particularly “Cross-boundary Health Record” and “Personal Folder”at the HKU-SZH and the 19 medical organizations under the Pilot Scheme, which will assist in seniors to firmly utilize their electronic health records throughout the border under the concept of “bring your own health records”consequently improving the connection of care. Taking into consideration the application experience, the Government will even more improve the workflow and boost the user experience, with the objective to support residents’ cross-boundary health care requires better.