Hong Kong – Elderly Health Care Voucher Greater Bay Area service points to extend to Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, from next Thursday

     The Department of Health (DH) today (July 12) announced that the service points where the Elderly Health Care Voucher (EHCV) is allowed to be used in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) will be extended to Zhongshan Chen Xinghai Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine (ZSCXH) located in Zhongshan starting from next Thursday (July 18). By then, together with the two service points operated by the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen (HKU-SZ) Hospital at its hospital and the Huawei Li Zhi Yuan Community Health Service Center (CHC) as well as the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University (FAH-SYSU), which also came under the EHCV GBA Pilot Scheme (Pilot Scheme) from the end of last month, eligible Hong Kong elderly persons can use the EHCVs for outpatient healthcare services at four GBA service points.

     Since 2015, the use of EHCV has expanded across the river to the HKU-SZ Hospital in Shenzhen. Further to the expansion on June 28 allowing the use of EHCV at the FAH-SYSU in Guangzhou, the ZSCXH is the third medical institution providing integrated services in the GBA implementing relevant arrangements. Crossing the river and reaching Zhongshan City, the arrangement also coincides with the routing of the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link which was commissioned on June 30.

     Starting from July 18, elderly persons will be able to use EHCVs to pay for outpatient healthcare services provided by the following 13 designated departments of the hospital: General Outpatient Clinic, Internal Medicine Department, Surgical Department, Health Check Center, Disease Prevention Center, Emergency Department, Dental Department, Disease Prevention Center by Herbal Medicine, Rehabilitation Department, Massage Department, Orthopaedics Department, Gynaecology Department and Ophthalmology Department.

     The arrangements for shared use of EHCVs between spouses and the EHCV Pilot Reward Scheme under the EHCV Scheme are equally applicable to the ZSCXH. Elderly persons receiving designated primary healthcare outpatient services for health checks, and preventive and follow-up/monitoring of long-term conditions provided by the 13 aforementioned departments at the ZSCXH can accumulate EHCV spending and be allotted rewards.

     Elderly persons who intend to use EHCVs at the ZSCXH should first undergo identity verification and registration in person by presenting a valid Hong Kong identity card or Certificate of Exemption issued by the Immigration Department at the Hong Kong Elderly Health Care Voucher Reception located at the lobby on 1/F of the ZSCXH. Elderly persons not having their first appointment at the hospital can also make reservations through the official WeChat service account of the hospital. Upon attending a medical appointment, elderly persons should first register at the Hong Kong Elderly Health Care Voucher Reception at the lobby on 1/F of the hospital and wait for triage by the hospital staff. After receiving outpatient services at the designated departments, elderly persons can use EHCVs to pay the relevant fees at the relevant cashier of the department according to instructions from the hospital staff.

     The fees for the healthcare services provided by the ZSCXH are denominated in Renminbi. The hospital will make EHCV claims for elderly persons, and the EHCV amount deducted in Hong Kong dollars will be calculated according to a monthly updated voucher conversion factor under the EHCV Scheme. The monthly voucher conversion factor will be displayed at the abovementioned cashier offices for the elderly’s reference.

     A DH spokesman said, “Hong Kong elderly persons using EHCVs at any designated medical institution in the GBA should have registered with eHealth. In other words, the relevant arrangements apply to the HKU-SZ Hospital, Huawei Li Zhi Yuan CHC, the FAH-SYSU, the ZSCXH, and the remaining five pilot medical institutions that will launch relevant arrangements under the Pilot Scheme in future. After joining eHealth, elderly persons can make use of its mobile app to check their EHCV balance and usage record, as well as access at any time important information such as their medications, allergies and adverse drug reactions stored in the eHealth app. If elderly persons wish to use EHCVs at the GBA medical institutions but they have not yet registered with eHealth, the medical institutions will immediately register eHealth for the elderly upon getting their consent so that they can use EHCVs right away.

     “In addition, elderly persons cannot use EHCVs together with national medical insurance to pay the fees of the same healthcare service encounter. The scope of using EHCVs on the Mainland is the same as that in Hong Kong, which does not include inpatient services, prepaid healthcare services and day surgery procedures. EHCVs cannot be used solely for the purchase of goods, medication, medical equipment or products, nor can they be redeemed for cash.”In February this year, the Government included five medical institutions providing integrated services (all with dental services) and two dental medical institutions in the Pilot Scheme. The Government is actively carrying out preparatory work with the remaining five medical institutions included in the Pilot Scheme, and is making good progress. These five medical institutions will progressively launch the relevant arrangements and details will be announced in due course.

     ​Launched in 2009, the EHCV Scheme currently subsidises eligible Hong Kong elderly persons aged 65 and above with an annual EHCV amount of $2,000 (with the accumulation limit set at $8,000) for them to choose private primary healthcare services that best suit their health needs. Members of the public may browse the EHCV Scheme website (www.hcv.gov.hk) or call the EHCV Scheme hotline (2838 2311) for information on the EHCV Scheme.