SINGAPORE – By 2025, all nine private hospitals in Singapore will contribute their patients’ health records to a national repository to help doctors decide on the most effective treatment for patients and eliminate unnecessary repeat tests.

This existing repository – called the National Electronic Health Record (NEHR) system – consolidates each patient’s diagnoses, medications, lab test results and drug allergies.

While all public hospitals, which handle 90% of the country’s hospital workload, are already contributing to the NEHR, private hospitals are yet to come on board.

Announcing the NEHR expansion on November 9, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said: “Patients, especially those with chronic or complex conditions, often visit multiple clinicians. Historically, electronic medical records have been isolated within individual healthcare providers. This has led to fragmentation of care.”

“Once it’s recorded that you have a drug allergy, you reduce the chance that a doctor will give you a drug that you might be allergic to. We can also eliminate frustrating repeat testing.”

Mr Ong was speaking at the 20th anniversary of the Singapore Population Health Study Cohort, where he also announced that healthcare is becoming increasingly personalized for patients.

His ministry recently consulted all private hospitals that supported joining the NEHR, and some hospitals have started working with the Ministry of Health (MoH) to prepare their digital systems for the centralized repository.

By early 2025, new legislation mandating national contribution to the NEHR is expected to be passed, Mr Ong said.

Under the new Health Information Bill, all licensed health care providers and care providers approved by the Ministry of Health, such as community pharmacists, will be required to contribute data to the NEHR.

Polyclinics and private general medicine clinics on the Healthier SG program they are already in the NEHR and represent about 70 percent of primary care providers.

The bill will also establish a framework to govern the safe collection, access, use and sharing of health information in the health ecosystem, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.

Healthcare providers must have measures in place to protect health data through frequent and timely updates to systems and software and equip staff with practices to protect cybersecurity. Hospitals and clinics must also report cybersecurity incidents and data breaches.

Patients have the option to opt out of sharing their essential medical data in the national registry, Mr Ong said.

From the end of November, Healthier SG subscribers will be able to benefit from more personalized health plans, such as more specific diet and exercise recommendations.

“For example, your doctor may recommend that you do aerobic activity of a certain intensity, frequency and duration. If your doctor gives you dietary advice, it will highlight which foods to limit and healthier alternatives you can opt for,” said Mr Ong, who spoke at the NUS Tahir Foundation Building on 9 November.