Government Assistance for CHAS-registered Clinics to Better Advise Patients

Ms Joan Pereira asked the Minister for Health what assistance does the Ministry provide to Community Health Assist Scheme-registered clinics so that the doctors and clinic staff can better advise patients on their options.

MOH partners participating general practitioner (GP) and dental clinics under the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) to provide CHAS, Pioneer Generation (PG), and in future, Merdeka Generation (MG) cardholders, with subsidised medical and dental care.

MOH provides clinical and claims guidelines to all CHAS GP and dental clinics, such as on the eligibility of items for CHAS subsidies, to ensure appropriate clinical care and utilisation of subsidies. MOH regularly reviews these guidelines to ensure they remain in line with best practices.

The Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) works closely with MOH to support CHAS clinics in scheme participation. To help GP and dental clinics understand the guidelines and how CHAS can help their patients, AIC conducts individualised on-site training sessions for doctors and clinic staff, and organises outreach efforts such as regional lunchtime talks, on CHAS. AIC also publishes articles in professional newsletters, and issues regular mailers to CHAS clinics, to highlight key updates on matters of relevance to GPs, and alert them to potential practice pitfalls. CHAS clinics can also contact their AIC account managers for assistance and clarifications on the scheme.

I thank the Senior Minister of State for his reply. With a higher number of Singaporeans who will be eligible for CHAS moving forward and for us to better serve them, would the Ministry consider providing clearer guidelines to these CHAS clinics on the specific subsidies for specialist referrals?

Indeed, Mr Speaker, with the rapidly ageing population and when CHAS subsidies are extended to all Singaporeans with chronic conditions, the number of Singaporeans utilising CHAS benefits will inevitably increase. The CHAS agreement states that CHAS clinics can refer CHAS patients who require specialist care to the Specialist Outpatient Clinics (SOCs) at public hospitals as subsidised patients as long as their referrals are unnamed referrals. Such subsidised referrals can be made for any medical conditions.

At the SOCs, patients receive prevailing SOC subsidies based on their per capita household income. CHAS subsidies, however, do not apply on SOC visits. This information is available to CHAS GPs through AIC's various engagement platforms and we will continue to outreach to CHAS GPs to inform and update CHAS GPs and dental clinics on clinical and claims guidelines, especially so when there are new initiatives being rolled out.