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4.2 A POPULATION-BASED SURVEY ON
THE KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, AND

PERCEPTION OF CHRONIC DISEASE
SCREENING AND MANAGEMENT

To complement the key stakeholder interviews presented in Chapter 4.1, this chapter will
delve into an analysis of a telephone survey that was conducted to better understand the
knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of Hong Kong’s citizens towards chronic disease
screening and management. Respondents’ viewpoints and past behaviours will help inform
the design of a prospective screening voucher and management scheme,
named the Chronic Disease Screening Voucher and Management Scheme
(CDSVMS, also addressed as the “Scheme”) for hypertension, hyperglycaemia (diabetes),
and hyperlipidaemia (collectively termed HDH). Findings will inform the design of the Scheme
assessed in the economic model presented in Chapter 4.3 and will guide recommendations
put forward in Chapter 5 to propel primary healthcare (PHC) development in Hong Kong
through strategic purchasing.

4.2.1 IMPROVING UPON THE ELDERLY HEALTH CARE
VOUCHER SCHEME FOR THE PROPOSED SCHEME
DESIGN

A core component of the Scheme is the adoption of healthcare vouchers for prompting
primary care uptake and development. However, healthcare vouchers, as a demand-side
lever to promote desirable behaviour, are far from novel in Hong Kong. A key example is the
Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme (EHCVS) launched in 2009–a dedicated effort by the
Government to empower our older population (aged ≥ 65 years) to utilise primary care
services in the private sector with an annual voucher amount that currently stands at
HKD 2,000 (see Chapter 3). Although the EHCVS achieved an impressive ever-utilisation rate
of 98% by 2020, the success of the EHCVS in incentivising the older population to use
primary care services (in particular, preventive care services) in the private sector in order to
reduce the public sector burden has been less than ideal (HKSARG, 2021b; Yam et al., 2019).

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