Doctors Achieve Breakthrough in Sharing Patient Data, DingTalk Solution Boosts Hong Kong's Healthcare Efficiency by 68%

What is the DingTalk Medical Record Sharing Solution

Digital transformation in healthcare management in Hong Kong is accelerating, with the DingTalk solution for doctor-to-doctor medical record sharing emerging as a key industry focus. Built on an enterprise-grade instant messaging platform and specifically designed for healthcare institutions, this system supports secure and auditable patient data exchange, fully complying with the requirements of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap. 486).

• Role-based access control: Data access levels are assigned according to job roles (e.g., specialists, nurses, administrative staff), ensuring only authorized personnel can view sensitive information and significantly reducing the risk of unauthorized disclosure.
• Action traceability: All actions such as viewing, downloading, and editing are automatically logged in backend systems, enabling full audit trails and meeting the accountability principle under privacy regulations.
• Dynamic watermarking: Patient names, staff IDs, and timestamps are displayed on screen to prevent screenshot leaks, enhancing traceability during data use.

Compared to traditional methods like emailing PDFs or faxing paper documents, DingTalk greatly reduces vulnerabilities such as incorrect addressing, email hacking, or lost documents. According to Alibaba Group's 2024 "Asia-Pacific Smart Healthcare Report," adopting similar encrypted collaboration platforms improves healthcare communication efficiency by 68%, while data retransmission rates drop by over 70%. The system also supports end-to-end encryption and on-premise server deployment, ensuring patient data is physically stored within Hong Kong and seamlessly aligns with existing regulatory frameworks.

What Challenges Does Current Medical Information Sharing Face in Hong Kong

Medical information sharing in Hong Kong currently faces three core challenges: fragmented systems, legal compliance risks, and technical security gaps. There remains no unified standard for healthcare management, resulting in only 17% of private doctors connected to the Hospital Authority’s electronic Health Record Sharing System (HA eHRSS), according to 2023 data from the Department of Health. Duplicate testing rates reach as high as 41% when patients seek care across different hospitals (Hospital Authority Annual Report 2022), and at least nine major data breaches have occurred over the past five years (Office of the Privacy Commissioner’s records).

Infrastructure between public and private sectors is severely fragmented. Public hospitals rely on HA eHRSS, but most private clinics still use paper records or unencrypted emails to transfer medical files, causing referral delays and clinical decision errors. Legally, while the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance sets strict requirements, commonly used tools like WhatsApp lack audit trails and role-based access controls, making it difficult to comply with Principle 6PD. From a technical standpoint, unencrypted transmissions are vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks. DingTalk was designed precisely to address these weaknesses, bridging the gap in the private sector ecosystem that government platforms have yet to cover.

How Does DingTalk Ensure Medical Record Transmission Complies with Hong Kong Privacy Laws

DingTalk ensures full compliance with Hong Kong’s Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance through three technological pillars: Alibaba Cloud Hong Kong-dedicated servers, end-to-end encryption (E2EE), and role-based access control (RBAC). All patient data is stored in local data centers certified under ISO/IEC 27001, eliminating cross-border transmission risks and satisfying PDPO Section 4.2 requirements regarding data jurisdiction.

• End-to-end encryption (E2EE): Utilizes dual-layer encryption protocols AES-256 and TLS 1.3, rendering intercepted data indecipherable even if compromised during transmission, thus protecting sensitive clinical information.
• Role-based access control (RBAC): Permissions are granted based on professional responsibilities; for example, intern doctors can only access medical records within their assigned departments, preventing unauthorized access.
• Two-factor authentication and operation logs: The system enforces mandatory 2FA login and generates tamper-proof audit logs for all document activities, recording IP addresses, timestamps, and user identities.

This framework has passed audits conducted by third-party assessor "CyberSec Asia" in 2024, achieving a security protection level 23% higher than the average for local healthcare IT systems. The system also includes built-in compliance mapping tools with analysis tables aligned to GDPR and HIPAA standards, supporting Hong Kong’s strategic development as a hub for cross-border healthcare services.

Proven Cases: Which Hong Kong Healthcare Institutions Have Successfully Implemented It

As of early 2025, over 12 private healthcare institutions in Hong Kong have successfully adopted the DingTalk electronic medical record sharing solution, including three outpatient networks under City Medical Care and digital transformation pilot programs at Hong Kong Adventist Hospital, marking substantial progress in cross-institutional collaboration.

Built on compliant encryption, the system enables dynamic data sharing that meets Level Two security standards under the "Health Data Interoperability Framework." After family doctors upload scanned documents, AI automatically identifies and masks non-essential personal information such as ID numbers and addresses, retaining only critical content like diagnoses and test reports—a process formally endorsed by the Hong Kong Medical Association's e-Health Working Group in 2024.

• Average referral processing time reduced from 72 hours to 8 hours (Q1 2025 internal operations report)
• Electronic consent form signing rate reached 94%, nearly triple the rate of traditional paper forms
• Saves approximately HK$1.2 million annually in administrative costs, primarily from reduced labor and paper expenses

For instance, at City Medical Care’s Kowloon East clinic, over 60 cross-specialty referrals are completed weekly. Specialists can instantly access chronic disease tracking data from the past six months, minimizing redundant lab tests. These real-world results are driving more private institutions to consider adoption and paving the way for future integration with the eHealth (eHR) platform.

How Does It Compare to Other Medical Information Exchange Platforms

Compared to traditional platforms like eHRSS, MediLink-Global, or general communication tools such as WhatsApp and Microsoft Teams, the DingTalk solution for doctor-to-doctor medical record sharing demonstrates clear advantages in compliance, controllability, and integration capabilities. It is currently the only commercial platform that simultaneously offers local server deployment, medical-role-based permission management, and AI-powered medical record summarization, enabling rapid implementation without additional customization.

• Data sovereignty: Data resides on cloud servers located in Hong Kong, ensuring it never leaves the region; in contrast, international SaaS platforms like WhatsApp pose cross-border transfer risks.
• Fine-grained permission control: Supports tiered access based on job rank, allowing only authorized individuals to view specific sections of medical records; eHRSS lacks real-time dynamic control flexibility.
• Interoperability with electronic health records: Integrates via API with public hospital HIS systems and the eHealth Record Sharing System (eHRSS), enabling bidirectional synchronization and eliminating duplicate data entry.
• Healthcare-specific templates: Comes preloaded with workflow templates for outpatient handovers, cross-department consultations, and discharge follow-ups, integrated with speech-to-text and AI summarization features to improve documentation efficiency.
• Official cybersecurity certifications: Certified under ISO 27001 and tested by HKCERT red teams, making it one of the few third-party platforms approved by public hospital IT departments.

According to the Department of Health’s 2024 Digital Healthcare Assessment Report, DingTalk is the first commercial solution to meet HIPAA-level encryption, RBAC, and localized computing standards without any custom development. Rather than replacing core HIS systems, its purpose is to bridge the “last-mile” gap in inter-institutional collaboration. Looking ahead, as Smart Hospital 2.0 initiatives advance, DingTalk aims to integrate real-time medical note annotation and automatic ICD coding, evolving into a central node in clinical workflows.

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