MH 78:44/1
24 Nov 2023
This circular informs that
Phase 3 of the Healthcare Services Act (HCSA) will commence on
18 December 2023. 2 The HCSA was enacted in January 2020 to replace the current Private Hospitals and Medical Clinics Act (PHMCA) to better safeguard patient safety and well-being and strengthen the governance of healthcare service providers in the evolving healthcare environment, while enabling the rollout of new and innovative healthcare services. The regulations under the Act were implemented in three phases, with Phases 1 and 2 having commenced on 3 January 2022 and 26 June 2023 respectively:
a.
Phase 1 of the HCSA involved clinical support services, such as clinical laboratory, radiological, emergency ambulance and medical transport services.
b.
Phase 2 of the HCSA involved acute and community hospital services, outpatient medical and dental services (including tele-consultation and home medical or dental care by doctors and dentists), assisted reproduction service, ambulatory surgical centre service, human tissue banking service, nuclear medicine service and outpatient renal dialysis service.
3
Phase 3 of the HCSA will involve the last group of licensees regulated under the PHMCA, which are the
nursing homes. With the nursing homes transited to and regulated under HCSA, the
PHMCA will be repealed on 18 December 2023.IMPORTANT DATES TO NOTE FOR LICENSING TRANSACTIONS4 To prepare for the HCSA Phase 3 implementation, all (i) existing HCSA licensees and (ii) Nursing Home providers should take note of the paragraphs below and adhere to the timelines stated within for your licensing transactions in the Healthcare Application and Licensing Portal (HALP):
(A) For existing HCSA Licensees Only5 To support data migration activities, the
HALP will not be operational from 12 December 2023 (Tuesday), 1800 hours to 18 December 2023 (Monday), 0800 hours. No applications can be submitted in HALP during this blackout period. Licensees are encouraged to plan any application submissions prior or after this blackout period to avoid disruptions to your HCSA licence.
(B) For HCSA Phase 3 Licensees Only (i.e., Nursing Home Providers)6 There will be an
eLis system blackout from 5 December 2023 (Tuesday), 1800 hours onwards and no applications can be submitted in eLis from there on:
a. For licences expiring on and before 30 April 2024, please submit your renewals in eLis
before 5 December 2023 (Tuesday), 1200 hours, if not done yet. If you have already submitted your renewal, no further action is required.
b. For licences expiring on and after 1 May 2024, please submit your renewals in the new system, HALP after 18 December 2023 (Monday), 0800 hours.
7 All Nursing Home Service licence holders are encouraged to log in to HALP after 18 December, 0800 hours to view your new HCSA licence. If you require assistance to access HALP, please visit https://www.moh.gov.sg/licensing-andregulation/e-guides for the e-guides.
POSTPONEMENT OF LICENSING FOR PREVENTIVE HEALTH SERVICES8 With the shift to a services-based regulatory regime, other healthcare services not regulated previously under the PHMCA may fall under the scope of HCSA. On this note, MOH had previously communicated to all licensees that Preventive Health Service (PHS) will be regulated under HCSA when HCSA Phase 3 is implemented. As the regulations are still under review, the licensing of PHS will be postponed to a later stage. More details will be shared when ready.
9 Please visit our website at https://www.moh.gov.sg/hcsa for more information on the HCSA. Should you require any further information or clarification, please email us at HCSA_Enquiries@moh.gov.sg.
ADJ A/PROF (DR) RAYMOND CHUA
DEPUTY DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF HEALTH
HEALTH REGULATION
MINISTRY OF HEALTH
The full document may be downloaded below:
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