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Elizabeth Cheung

Hong Kong public hospitals will start using generative artificial intelligence (AI) to draft medical reports next month, one of the first reforms adopted in response to expert recommendations to enhance efficiency.
The Hospital Authority revealed details for further AI integration on Thursday following a four-month performance review by a special committee that put forward 31 recommendations in November.
One of the major recommendations was to use technology to enhance patient safety.
The authority said the move, which would first start in six major public hospitals in March, could help raise doctors’ efficiency in preparing the reports.
“It could help save doctors a lot of time,” said Dr Michael Wong Lap-gate, the authority’s director of quality and safety. “Hopefully patients can also receive the reports more quickly.”
The generative AI tools can provide quick drafts of medical reports, based on patients’ clinical data, for doctors to review and finalise the document.
While Wong could not say precisely how much time the AI tool could save with drafting reports, he noted that doctors usually needed to spend 8 to 10 per cent of their working time to prepare those documents.
In general, it takes about eight weeks for public hospitals to process and complete a medical report.
Wong said the service would start in Princess Margaret Hospital, Caritas Medical Centre, United Christian Hospital, Tseung Kwan O Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Tin Shui Wai Hospital, and could be rolled out to other facilities if it yielded positive feedback.
Dr Joanna Pang Yuk-wa, chief medical informatics officer at the authority, said the generative AI tool would be used within the public hospitals’ internal system to ensure patients’ personal data would not be leaked.
The authority also planned to allow patients to file applications for medical reports via its mobile app “HA Go”, with the service to start in 2025-26.

In 2023, the authority received more than 110,000 applications for medical reports.
The use of generative AI in helping draft medical reports was part of efforts in response to recommendations made by the review committee on the management of the public hospital system.
The committee was formed in July last year following several medical blunders.
Dr David Christopher Lung, president of the Public Doctors’ Association, said that writing a medical report could be time-consuming.
“It takes time to write a report, especially for patients who have been hospitalised for a long time, or with complicated conditions,” Lung said.
“The amount of medical records, laboratory investigation and radiology imaging could be massive.”
Lung said he believed the use of AI in helping doctors draft medical reports was a good move.
“But we still need to see the performance of the AI tool and how accurate it is,” he said.
Authority chief executive Dr Tony Ko Pat-sing said follow-up work for most of the recommendations could start or be completed within six months.
Separately, more public hospitals would also make use of the “HA Go” app to receive feedback from patients, following a trial in specialist outpatient clinics at Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital in Chai Wan and Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin from November last year to January.
Ko said the authority aimed to roll it out to all hospitals within this year.
The review committee had also urged the authority to create a “speak-up” culture to promote an open communication environment.
In response, Wong said relevant training would be offered in the organisation’s e-learning portal and the Hospital Authority Academy. It would also be part of the onboarding training for new employees.
Wong said staff could also express their opinions through the organisation’s internal messaging app, which could help deliver the messages to relevant departments for follow-up action.


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News

Hong Kong

Health & Environment

AI tool, set to be rolled out in six major hospitals in March, will help to provide report drafts based on clinical data


AI tool, set to be rolled out in six major hospitals in March, will help to provide report drafts based on clinical data.


Medicine

Artificial intelligence