Authors (including presenting author) :
Chan GWC(1), Poon JA(1), Cheung JTY(1), Tong ELH (1), Wong WN(1), Leung RCK(1)
Affiliation :
(1) IT&HI Division, HAHO
Introduction :
Radiology Image Sharing Pilot (“Pilot”) is a Stage 1 eHRSS project, which allows private hospitals/radiology centres sending radiology exam result of referred cases to HA. The Pilot has benefited HA by provide more choices to HA patients, support Public Private Partnership (PPP) in Radi Collaboration Program and promote staff health in Staff Radi Program. As of Dec 2020, over 560,000 image studies were sent to HA. While the Pilot has provided lots advantages, the data sharing is one-way, which only allows HA clinicians to view private radiology exam data in HA ePR system but private doctors cannot view radiology images in HA. It may result repeat scanning of patients, incomplete health record for making clinical decision and thus impact effective delivery of care. As eHRSS develops, it provides a central platform for sharing health record among Health Care Providers (HCP). As of Dec 2020, over 1.42 million citizens and 2,000 HCP have joined eHR. Moreover, there is about 4,000-5,000 daily access of eHR Viewer by different healthcare professionals in public and private sectors. It has proven eHRSS is an effective platform for sharing patient health data. Since radiology images has unique data format (DICOM) and large file size, eHRSS has put certain effort to develop and enhance its platform to support sharing. The development has completed and image sharing platform will be ready in March 2021. As HA is the major HCP and possess large volume of patient radiology images, it will greatly benefit the patients and healthcare professionals if HA images can be shared in eHRSS. This two-way sharing can definitely improve care delivery in the territory.
Objectives :
1.To evaluate the radiology images in HA and formulate how to share HA radiology images to eHRSS. 2.To estimate the use of HA images by eHR users.
Methodology :
1.The radiology images in HA ePR Image-Distribution (ePR-ID) were evaluated to see if they were ready for sharing. Besides, eHRSS encourages HCP to upload radi images of previous 2 years (balance the use and storage), the volume of images to be uploaded by HA was estimated. 2.The upload arrangement was examined to ensure no impact to operation.3.The daily access of radiology exam data in eHRSS was evaluated.
Result & Outcome :
1. As of Jul 2020, there were 1.3 million of eHR participants and over 2 million radiology image studies(70TB) in HA. The modalities are all recognized by eHRSS, e.g. X-Ray, Ultrasound, Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). 2. For the 70TB images, they would be uploaded to eHRSS in 5-6 months, from Oct 2020 to March 2021. To avoid impact to operation, the upload would be arranged in non-peak hour(Night time at weekdays and overnight at weekends). It is expected all images can be uploaded to eHRSS before roll out of eHR Image sharing platform in late March 2021. 3. There was about 800-900 daily access in eHR Viewer on Radiology Record in Oct to Dec 2020. Compared with 2019, there was about 20% growth in 2020. It is estimated the figure will grow much faster when radiology images are available. To conclude, HA uploads its radiology images allows two-way sharing of data and helps to provide more comprehensive patient record. It can further facilitate transition of care between the public and private. More PPP project can be initiated and they can lessen the burden in HA in long run.
