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

This existing repository – called the National Electronic Health Record, or NEHR – 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.”

But with a centralized data repository, errors can be minimised, the minister added.

“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 Studies, 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 practitioner clinics in the Healthier SG program are already in the NEHR and account for approximately 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 medical data through timely system and software updates, as well as 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, he will highlight foods to limit and healthier alternatives you can opt for,” said Mr Ong, who spoke at the NUS Tahir Foundation Building on 9 November.

As of October, more than one million people have signed up for Healthier SG since its official launch in July 2023, and one in three of them are between the ages of 40 and 59.

Mr Ong also gave an update on how wearable technology and devices are increasingly being used to help patients improve their health. The Health Promotion Board (HPB), for example, is working with Google, software company ConnectedLife, and Fullerton Health to work on a mobile app.

The mobile app will combine patients’ clinical data – such as body mass index and blood pressure – and lifestyle data, such as physical activity levels collected through wearable fitness trackers.

Fullerton Health physicians will access patient data through a dashboard and work with them to improve their health.

HPB is also partnering with pharmaceutical company Abbott and start-up Health2Sync to launch a coaching program for people at risk of diabetes.

In another pilot, participants will wear a patch on their arm that will allow them to monitor their glucose levels over time and how they change with different types of food.

Mr Ong noted that while these monitoring devices can help people be more mindful of their food choices, the patches can be quite expensive.

“However, we continue to try new pilot projects and I hope that with clearer intervention techniques, more competitive prices and more players in the market … (these devices) can eventually become cost-effective,” he said.