Extending Community Health Assist Scheme to House Calls Made by Doctors

Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef asked the Minister for Health whether the use of Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) and its subsidies can be extended to cases where primary care doctors have to make house visits to manage elderly or sick patients.

Madam, today, home-bound patients with medical needs may be referred through the Agency for Integrated Care for a MOH-subvented home healthcare provider to deliver home medical service by a doctor. These patients can already receive means-tested subsidies of up to about $133 per visit. In 2013, more than 1,300 patients received home medical service under MOH-subvented home

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healthcare providers. The majority are patients with long-term care needs, but some are also home-bound patients with shorter-term needs, such as those recovering from complex wounds post-discharge.

For patients with ad hoc medical needs but who are not enrolled in home medical service, if they are on the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS), they can receive subsidies for house visits by CHAS GPs but at the same subsidy rates, which are up to $18.50 per visit for common illnesses and up to $120 per visit for chronic conditions.