Debated in Parliament on 22 Mar 2023.
Mr Leon Perera asked the Minister for Health (a) what is the total expenditure on the National Electronic Health Record (NEHR) system over the last 15 years; (b) what is the percentage of private licensees in 2022 in ambulatory care, such as general practitioners, specialists and dentists, who (i) review NEHR data and (ii) review and upload NEHR data; and (c) what is the percentage of recipients of the Early Contribution Incentive Scheme in 2022 who (i) review NEHR data and (ii) review and upload NEHR data.
The National Electronic Health Record (NEHR) was established in 2011, and has gone through many rounds of updates and improvements. It is a major national healthcare record system, to capture the updated summary medical records of all patients in Singapore. To date, the total expenditure on the system is around $660 million.
As of 31 December 2022, over 90% of licensed private hospitals and nursing homes have view-access to NEHR; of these, close to half of them are contributing data. Over 30% of licensed private ambulatory care institutions, which include general practitioners (GPs), specialists, dentists and renal care providers, have view-access to NEHR; of these, 12% are contributing data.
With the proposed Health Information Bill, all licensed healthcare service providers are required to contribute data.
In the meantime, the Early Contribution Incentive (ECI) supports private healthcare licensees in contributing data to the NEHR. Among the 12 laboratories that applied for ECI, four have received the grant.
The ECI scheme was extended in December 2022 to GPs, private hospitals, radiological laboratories and clinical laboratories, and we have received more than 900 applications thus far. Those taking up ECI are required to contribute to the NEHR, and will be given NEHR view-access.
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