Government & Policy

Hong Kong’s Food and Health Bureau (FHB) announced on March 1, 2019 the establishment of the Primary Healthcare Office (PHO) to oversee and steer the development of primary healthcare services at the bureau level. “It is high time for us to actively promote primary healthcare services to change the present treatment-oriented healthcare system. The PHO will focus on the development of District Health Centres (DHCs) as a new model to leverage on public-private partnership and medical-social collaboration in providing primary healthcare service, to cater for the needs and characteristics of the districts and enhance public awareness of healthy living, disease prevention and self-management of health,” said a spokesperson for the FHB. The first DHC in Kwai Tsing is expected to start operation around the third quarter of this year. With the experience gained from the first DHC, the PHO will plan and set up DHCs in all 18 districts progressively. “The PHO will be responsible for monitoring the performance of DHC operators and driving DHC service development based on evidence and data as well as developing standards. It is also tasked to review the role of different key service providers in primary healthcare and to enhance cross-sectoral and inter-organisational co-ordination, as well as to oversee development and promotion strategies on primary healthcare,” the spokesperson added. Origins of the Primary Healthcare Office In her 2017 Policy Address, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said that the government “will set up a committee on primary healthcare development and its work will include drawing up a model for district-based medical-social collaboration, using big data to identify areas of medical services.” She also mentioned in the same address that the FHB should set up a DHC with a brand new operation mode in Kwai Tsing District within two years. In November 2017, the FHB established the Steering Committee on Primary Healthcare Development to formulate the development strategy and devise a blueprint for primary healthcare services. It also established the Working Group on DHC Pilot Project in Kwai Tsing District, to provide advice on the planning, implementation and evaluation of the DHC pilot project. The launch of the DHCs will likely alleviate the manpower and capacity crunch of Hong Kong’s public hospitals, which often operate beyond capacity during winter periods and patients have to endure with long lines and waiting times.

The Global Health Hub Germany initiative was launched last week.

Last Wednesday (February 20), President Rodrigo R. Duterte of the Philippines officially signed the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act into law, which guarantees equitable access to quality and affordable healthcare services for all Filipinos. It will also automatically enroll Filipino citizens into the National Health Insurance Program and expand PhilHealth coverage to include free medical consultations and laboratory tests. Aside from the automatic enrollment of all Filipinos to PhilHealth, other significant reforms that will be implemented over time include: designating PhilHealth as the national purchaser for health goods and services for individuals, such as medicines; improvement of health facilities especially in underserved areas; responding to the gap in health workers throughout the country; strategic engagement of the private sector; and creating and expanding new functions in the Department of Health (DOH) to improve the delivery of health services, according to an official statement by the DOH. Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the UHC program may be implemented “gradually” since Congress has yet to draft a final bill raising tobacco taxes. Last month, the House Committee on Health in the Philippines House of Representatives chaired by Rep. Angelina Tan approved a substitute bill seeking to establish the National eHealth Systems and Services that shall deliver health services through cost-effective and secure information and communications technology (ICT). The bill seeks to utilise ICT to deliver health services which has the potential to be profitable, improve quality, change the conditions of practice, and improve access to healthcare, especially in rural and other medically underserved areas. With the approval of the National eHealth System and Services Act and UHC being signed into law, the Philippines has a monumental task of delivering accessible, quality healthcare services to all its 105 million citizens. Some have criticised the UHC as a political gimmick but the true challenge for its successful delivery cannot rely on the sole commitment of state authorities: it must also seek the cooperation and collaboration from private healthcare players and even tap on the capabilities on the burgeoning health tech industry.

The online resource from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services gives healthcare providers and communities better visibility into controlled substance prescribing patterns.

The organizations will work together to evaluate real-world evidence from patient datasets to help regulatory decision making.

According to the Department of Health and Social Care, the NHS is using around 130,000 pagers at an annual cost of £6.6m.

New figures show that one in 10 Australians have opted out of the My Health Record (MHR) system, leaving participation rates at 90.1 per cent. 

The report from the agency's Health Information Technology Advisory Committee shows that patient engagement and cybersecurity will also be big parts of its agenda going forward.

They'll focus on info blocking, certification requirements, standards for voluntary pediatric health IT certification and the new U.S. Core Data for Interoperability proposal.

Info-blocking ruled the day, while APIs, FHIR, artificial intelligence and virtual reality were also prominent themes at this year’s Global Conference.