What is “Elderly Health Care Voucher Pilot Reward Scheme” ?
Starting from 13 November 2023, once an elderly person has accumulated Voucher spending of $1,000 or above on designated Primary Health Care services (“PHC services”) within the same year, the eHealth System (Subsidies) will automatically allot $500 reward to the elderly person’s Health Care Voucher account for using on designated PHC services in future.
The designated PHC services including:
- Preventive services
(e.g. health assessment, body check, vaccination, etc.) - Follow-up/monitoring of long-term conditions
(e.g. treatment for chronic diseases) - Chronic Disease Co-care Pilot Scheme
(e.g. Hypertension and diabetes mellitus screening services, medical consultations and drugs in treatment phase, etc.) - District Health Centres/District Health Centre Expresses
(e.g. the Chronic Disease Management Programme on osteoarthritic knee pain and low back pain) - The University of Hong Kong - Shenzhen Hospital and its Health Centre
(e.g. Receive outpatient services on preventive and follow-up/monitoring of long-term conditions provided at the designated clinics)
How does the elderly person link the voucher account with his/her spouse?
A: The elderly person and his/her spouse may visit the practice of an enrolled healthcare service provider together when either of them needs to use the vouchers and present their Hong Kong Identity Cards (HKICs) or the "Certificate of Exemption" issued by the Immigration Department, and declare their spousal relationship and consent to share use vouchers, the healthcare service provider can then link up their voucher accounts in the eHealth System. From the same day onwards, either party of the elderly couple can, upon exhaustion of one’s own account balance, use his/her spouse’s vouchers for private primary healthcare services, until either party opt out by written request.
How to use the vouchers: step 1-2-3
Step 1：Show your valid Hong Kong Identity Card or Certificate of Exemption to a healthcare service provider. Indicate your wish to use vouchers. Please note that you are not allowed to use vouchers if you cannot present a valid identity document.
Step 2：If you are using vouchers for the first time, the healthcare service provider will create a personal voucher account for you. Based on the year in which you become eligible to use vouchers, the relevant voucher amount will be deposited in your account.
Step 3：After receiving the healthcare service in person, you must sign a consent form indicating the voucher amount to be used. The healthcare service provider will submit a claim for you and give you a record of updated voucher balance in your account.
Q: Do elderly persons need pre-registration with the Scheme in order to use the vouchers?
A: Elderly persons do not need to register in advance. When an eligible elderly person needs to receive healthcare services and use the vouchers, he/she just has to show his/her HKIC to an enrolled healthcare service provider and sign a consent form after receiving the healthcare services in person.
Q: When creating the account and claiming vouchers, can an elderly person show his/her senior citizen card instead of HKIC?
A: No. An elderly person is required to show his/her original HKIC for verification of identity by healthcare service providers.
Q: How will the unused voucher amount be handled during the Scheme period?
A: During the Scheme period, unused voucher amount of each year can be retained for use in the following years. The unspent voucher amount can be carried forward and accumulated by an eligible elderly person but subject to an accumulation limit of vouchers of relevant years. There is no restriction on the number of years that an elderly person may carry forward the unspent voucher amount but the cumulative total in the account as at 1 January each year cannot exceed the accumulation limit of that year.
For more details on the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme, please refer to:
Health Care Voucher (hcv.gov.hk)
Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme | Quality HealthCare (qhms.com)
