All private hospitals in Singapore must be connected to the national EHR
The Ministry of Health Singapore has announced that all nine private hospitals in the country have committed to sharing patient health information with the National Electronic Health Record system.
They will work with Synapxe, which manages the NEHR, to get their hospital management systems ready for integration next year, a media statement said.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
“This will enable healthcare data sharing between Singapore’s public and private healthcare sectors, to enable better continuity of care for patients,” the MOH explained.
As part of the integration requirements, the private hospitals are expected to conduct frequent and timely software and system updates, report cybersecurity incidents and data breaches, and train staff in cyber hygiene.
In 2010, a SG$32 million ($20 million) multi-year contract was awarded to Accenture for the development and implementation of the NEHR. Introduced in 2011, the system has received and consolidated health summaries from various healthcare institutions and national registries into one record. These include patient demographics, allergies, clinical diagnoses, medication histories, radiology reports, laboratory studies, and discharge summaries.
To date, all public healthcare facilities in Singapore, including hospitals, outpatient clinics and specialist centers, are connected to the NEHR. In the private sector, at least 15% – including GP practices – have been allowed to access and share health information with the system since October last year.
THE BIG TREND
Singapore has not yet mandated all hospitals and other healthcare facilities to share health information with the NEHR. The proposed Health Information Act, which will be passed by Parliament next year, pushes for this mandate to help realize the full benefits of a centralized data system in clinical decision-making and patient safety. It also proposes a framework to govern the secure collection, access, use and exchange of health information within the healthcare ecosystem.
Meanwhile, another EMR project, the Next-Generation EMR, is being developed and implemented by Synapxe to consolidate health and hospital data around the world. Clusters of the National University Health System and the National Healthcare Group. Launched in 2020, this system differs from the NEHR in that it records the entire patient journey, from admission to discharge and follow-ups, and includes both medical and administrative data.