Efforts Made To Enhance Long Term Care Via A National Healthcare Infrastructure

Healthcare IT means more than simply computerising records - it means getting the right information to the right people, all the time. This was what Ms Yong Ying-I, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health (MOH) said at the recent Healthcare IT Innovation Week (1-9 February 2007). "The information required by a General Practitioner (GP) is not the same as what a Specialist at a hospital will need," Ms Yong explained.

Ms Yong Ying-I, Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Health, explains how the nation's vision of One Singaporean, One Family Physician, One Medical Record would rely critically on an integrated IT backbone

Currently, health records of Singaporeans are only linked only at public hospitals. However, MOH and the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) are taking steps to ensure that electronic medical records provide the right information to the right people. The two agencies will work together to establish a national IT backbone for all hospitals and GP clinics to tap into and access medical records.

The aim of the nationwide initiative is to improve long term care since a family doctor will now know exactly what a patient has gone through in the hospital. The system is part of the Health Ministry's vision of One Singaporean, One Family Physician, One Electronic Medical Record. To ensure that it makes sense to those who need it, doctors and clinicians will be closely involved in developing the system.

The clinicians themselves must feel ownership for this; they must believe that this is something useful to them. IT is a supporting element; it is not the driving element. What the clinicians want to do, what the doctors want to do must be the main objective and we want to support that," said Mr Chan Yeng Kit, Chief Executive Officer of IDA.

The new system, which is still in development, will provide family doctors access to their patients health screening results, medical treatments and the drugs they have been prescribed. With an aging population, such information sharing is becoming critical as more family doctors manage tertiary illnesses.

According to Mr Chan, presently there is no single IT vendor who is able to provide such an end-to-end integrated solution. "We are looking at solutions available and are in talks with several vendors to see what can be done," Mr Chan said. He also added that the IDA is working closely with MOH, doctors, clinicians and some IT vendors to develop an understanding of all issues involved, including those of security and privacy.

Mr Richard Granger, Director-General of IT, NHS (UK) Connecting for Health , relates his transformation story of the UK medical industry in 4 years through the use of infocomm technology

Overseas speakers at the conference were impressed with the strides the Singapore had already made in developing an integrated healthcare information system. Mr Richard Granger, Director General of IT for the NHS (UK) Connecting For Health, felt that Singaporeans could expect to reap the benefits of an integrated healthcare information system in the near future, due the efforts of organisations like IDA and MOH. NHS (UK) Connecting for Health was formed in 2005 as an agency of the Department of Health in the United Kingdom with the primary role of delivering the National Programme for IT (NPfIT).

The Healthcare IT Innovation Week also showcased healthcare innovations that were developed in Singapore and which benefited from the use of IT technologies. For example, remote monitoring of patients' vital signs in hospitals can be carried out using light wireless sensors that transmit information directly to computer servers for access through any authorised PCs. SingHealth, Singapore's largest healthcare group which offers multi-disciplinary and integrated medical care also present to demonstrate their Telecare system, which allows patients of chronic illnesses to submit their clinical measurements via web or SMS for monitoring, freeing them from frequent visits to clinics and even allowing many to travel overseas.

For more information:

• IDA actively engages healthcare institutions and the infocomm industry to develop innovative applications for the healthcare sector. Details can be found at the IDA Website.

Singaporeans now have greater access to popular services via the popular MyeCitizen portal. First launched by the government in 2002, the portal provided services such as reminders for passport and Identity Card (NRIC) renewals via SMS and e-mail. The portal became popular in a short time, with over 64,000 subscribers currently.

At Travel Buddy, MyeCitizen assists travel preparations by recognising the user's profile, such as an NS man, and prompting him to notify MINDEF of his overseas travel and purchase travel insurance

To provide Singaporeans greater access to more private and public value-added services, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) have decided to let the private sector manage the portal, and to offer related services by integrating the People-Public-Private sector services and processes. The revamp is in line with the iGov2010 masterplan to enhance government e-services and to continue to improve the quality of e-services to meet the lifestyle needs of Singaporeans.

New services include the ability for users to personalise their own homepage to different channels that meet their needs. New channels include things like MyTravel, MyHome, MyKids, MyFamily, MyCareer, MyInvestment, MyNS, MyRecreation and MyVehicle.

'Moving House' provide a one-stop online service to notify organisations of your change in mailing address

Subscribers will also get access to personalised services that are targeted to meet their individual needs. By listing services from both government and private organisations, users have access to a one-stop online portal for all their needs. For example, in the Travel Buddy service, the system will "recognise" the user's profile, such as an NS man, and prompt him to notify MINDEF of his overseas travel and purchase travel insurance.

Citizens can also visit the portal to subscribe to new e-mail and SMS alert services on government services such as CPF contributions.

eCitizen Portal Wins Award For Most Popular Government Services Website
At a Hitwise Online Performance Award in 2006, the eCitizen portal won an award for the most popular government services website. Hitwise, an online competitive intelligence service, measures performance of websites based on market share of visits from Internet users in a local market. The Awards go to the most popular industry websites of more than 160 different industries.

eCitizen Portal wins the Hitwise Online Performance Award for the most popular government services website

The eCitizen portal was the most popular winner in the 'Government - National 'category. The portal brings e-Government to the citizens of Singapore by allowing them to access government services online.

According to Mr Lo Yoong Khong, Deputy Director of e-Government Policies & Programmes Division for the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) who collected the award, "We are most heartened that the eCitizen portal is ranked top amongst the Government websites in Singapore. The high visit rate to the portal is testimony to the commitment and efforts put in by the Singapore Government to provide customers with a single access point to all government services and information, covering all essential touch-points in a citizen's life conveniently."

Mr Lo also said that IDA and the Ministry of Finance will build on the current success to improve the electronic service experience for customers and to encourage greater usage of government services online. The Hitwise Online Performance Award is organised by Hitwise along with sponsors AdAsia and Yahoo!.

For more information, visit:

• eCitizen Portal
• MyeCitizen

The industry has expressed support for the Government's move to fully liberalise Singapore's postal sector as they believe that liberalisation will be a catalyst for the postal sector's growth

The Singapore Government has announced that come 1 April 2007, it will open Singapore's Basic Mail Services market, and render the postal sector fully liberalised.

This decision will effectively end Singapore Post Ltd's (SingPost) 15-year monopoly of the Basic Mail Services market, which includes the collection and delivery of letters and postcards, within, into and out of Singapore. The decision was made following a public consultation in August 2006 by the IDA.

In 2004, Singapore's postal services sector generated an annual revenue of more than S$1 billion. Liberalisation is expected to generate cost savings of S$8 million to S$25 million per year over the next two to three years, with businesses standing to benefit the most. Currently, businesses account for almost 95 per cent of Singapore's total domestic mail.

The decision underlines the Government's commitment towards building an open economy and strengthening Singapore's position as a regional business hub. The newly liberalised segments opens up fresh business possibilities, including value-added services and tailored postal solutions such as letter mail tracking and staggered delivery of letters. According to Dr Lee Boon Yang, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, the industry has expressed their support for this move as they believe that liberalisation will be a catalyst for the postal sector's growth.

The newly liberalised segment presents new business possibilities, and creates room for greater service innovation

Dr Lee reassured the public that there will be no disruption to Basic Mail Services and consumers' interests had been taken into account in the proposed changes. "The Government is mindful of concerns on mail integrity and security and the need to preserve high user confidence in the public postal system," he said.

To ensure this, Dr Lee said that the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) will be putting in place appropriate regulatory frameworks to ensure that consumers continue to enjoy high service quality for basic mail service as well as maintain the public confidence in the reliability and availability of basic mail services.

For more information:

• Singapore's Postal Liberalisation is available at the IDA Website.