EHCV scheme expands to Nansha District, Dongguan hospitals

There will be a total of nine service points where the voucher can be used.

The Elderly Health Care Voucher (EHCV) Greater Bay Area (GBA) Pilot Scheme will expand to the Nansha Division of the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University (FAH-NS), in Guangzhou and Tungwah Hospital in Dongguan from 6 September.

The service points – where the voucher can be used in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao GBA – will be expanded to nine, marking the full implementation of the pilot scheme. 

The vouchers are applicable for outpatient healthcare services provided by 14 departments at the FAH-NS, with the same number for Tungwah Hospital.

Under the scheme, arrangements for the shared use of vouchers between spouses and the pilot reward scheme are equally applicable to the two newly added hospitals. Elderly persons receiving primary outpatient services from the designated departments at the hospitals can accumulate EHCV spending and be allotted rewards.

The fees for the healthcare services provided by the two hospitals are denominated in Renminbi. They 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 scheme. 

The monthly voucher conversion factor will be displayed at the hospitals’ cashier offices for the elderly’s reference.   

A spokesman reminded that the elderly persons using EHCVs should have registered with eHealth and use the mobile app to check their balance and usage record. They can also access at any time important information such as their medications, allergies, and adverse drug reactions stored in the app.

"Elderly persons cannot use EHCVs together with national medical insurance to pay for 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,” added the spokesman.

EHCVs also cannot be used solely for the purchase of goods, medication, medical equipment or products, nor can they be redeemed for cash.

Launched in 2009, the EHCV scheme subsidises Hong Kong elderly persons aged 65 and above with an annual EHCV amount of $2,000 with an accumulation limit of $8,000.