Ho Chi Minh City Integrates Corporate Health Check Results into National Electronic Health Records

Ho Chi Minh City is advancing efforts to integrate the results of health check-ups conducted at workplaces into the electronic health record (EHR) system for all citizens. This initiative aims to prevent redundant check-ups and enable more effective health management. A female office worker in the city, who completed her company-organized annual health screening in August, has recently been repeatedly urged by local authorities to participate in the free, nationwide health check-up program. She is uncertain whether her company's check-up results will be updated in the EHR or if she needs to undergo another examination. Ho Chi Minh City aims to ensure that 100% of its residents receive periodic health check-ups and to establish EHRs for long-term health monitoring by 2026. To date, nearly 4 million people have undergone free screenings, with their health data recorded in the system. Associate Professor Tang Chi Thuong, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, affirmed that employees who have undergone periodic health check-ups at their companies in 2026 do not need to re-examine if the conducted health check contents meet the program's requirements. According to him, the program's objective is to ensure citizens receive regular check-ups, detect risk factors and diseases early, and manage their health, without requiring them to repeat procedures already performed. Regarding the integration of corporate health check results into the EHR, Mr. Thuong stated that healthcare facilities performing periodic health check-ups for employees are responsible for updating the results to the Community Health Management Platform. For individuals examined under current forms, their data will be fully updated and incorporated into their EHR for long-term monitoring. Employees are not required to manually input or submit their results for EHR updates. However, for individuals who underwent check-ups between January 1, 2026, and May 25, 2026, prior to the city's nationwide program launch, some records may have been created using older forms, lacking the necessary information for complete integration into the system. In such cases, the healthcare facility will update information and the date of the examination to confirm that the employee was checked in 2026. Nevertheless, detailed results may not be immediately visible in the EHR. Subsequent periodic check-ups will be updated using new forms, providing more comprehensive data in the EHR. Concerning the situation where individuals who have already been screened are still invited for check-ups, Mr. Thuong emphasized that citizens do not need to visit health stations to re-enter their examination results. The healthcare facilities that conducted the initial screenings are responsible for reviewing and updating the data. If an individual has had a health check-up at their company or a healthcare facility in 2026 but is still invited by the locality, they can inform the health station or local authorities about where and when they were screened for verification. Health stations will record that the individual has been screened for management, statistical, and reporting purposes, but this does not replace the responsibility of the facility that performed the check-up to update the data. According to Mr. Thuong, health data is managed based on personal identification information, enabling the determination of each person's annual screening status. Lists of individuals who have been recorded as screened are updated for local authorities to review, thereby encouraging those who have not yet been screened and reducing unnecessary repeat invitations. The occurrence of an individual receiving a notification despite having already undergone a health check-up can happen when healthcare facilities have not yet updated their data or when synchronization is not timely. The city's goal is for every citizen to receive periodic health check-ups, with results updated into the EHR for long-term management, while minimizing unnecessary and redundant examinations. Source: VnExpress