According to the Hong Kong Hospital Authority’s (HA) official press release, public hospitals continued to operate smoothly on the second day (January 2) of the implementation of the public healthcare fees and charges reform.
The HA said it will keep deploying additional manpower across hospital departments to support patients who need assistance.
A&E attendance drops, waiting times improve
On the first day of the reform (January 1), a total of 3,888 patients attended Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments across 18 public hospitals—about 25% fewer than on New Year’s Day last year. From midnight to 2pm on January 2, 2,329 patients visited A&E departments, around 30% fewer than during the same period on January 2 last year.
Among those seeking consultation, 34 were classified as critical cases and 82 as emergency cases. Under the new arrangement, patients in these two categories are fully exempted from A&E charges. The remaining cases included 986 urgent cases, 1,171 semi-urgent cases, and 56 non-urgent cases.
The HA reported that the average waiting time for semi-urgent and non-urgent patients was around 55 minutes—shorter than the approximately 147 minutes recorded in the same period last year.
Family Medicine Clinics remain stable
The HA added that its 75 Family Medicine Clinics (FMCs) providing outpatient family medicine services also operated smoothly. As of 2pm on January 2, around 10,000 patients had attended FMCs, with overall service usage remaining similar to levels before the reform took effect.
Fee waiver applications surge, approvals high
To speed up support for those who need financial assistance, the HA said it has increased staffing to process medical fee waiver applications. By 2pm on January 2, public hospitals had received around 3,300 applications for the day, with nearly 90% approved—about 2,900 cases. The remaining applications will be handled as soon as possible.
The HA noted that while 14,000 individuals were approved for medical fee waivers in 2023/24, it has approved around 35,000 applications since early November last year.
Payment notifications for scheduled non-urgent services
The HA also reminded patients that those with previously scheduled non-urgent radiology or pathology services will begin receiving payment notifications from January 1, either by mail or through the HA mobile app, HA Go.
Patients with upcoming appointments are encouraged to arrange payment as early as possible after receiving the notice. Those with appointments further in the future may pay at their convenience, and patients are not required to settle payments immediately. For non-urgent radiology services, payment must be completed at least 14 days before the appointment date. For pathology services, payment must be completed before testing.
Patients with questions about payment items are advised to consult healthcare staff during follow-up visits. Specialist outpatient clinics will also provide Integrated Patient Service Centres to explain payment arrangements in detail.
Public advised to review new arrangements
The HA stressed that the fees and charges reform is now in effect, and advised patients to familiarise themselves with the updated arrangements before visiting public hospitals or outpatient clinics, noting that some service procedures have been modified.
Each hospital cluster has set up a hotline for enquiries (as listed in the HA’s table), and the public can also visit the HA website for more information on the new arrangements.