Press Releases
One-stop health information and services portal provides access to key medical records and health content
18 October 2015
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HealthHub aims to solicit user feedback to build a digital companion for healthy living for Singaporeans
Minister for Health, Mr Gan Kim Yong, today unveiled an early release of HealthHub, Singapore’s first one-stop online health information and services portal and mobile application, at the Health Promotion Board’s Healthy Lifestyle Festival SG roadshow. An initiative by the Ministry of Health and the Health Promotion Board, HealthHub contains localised and citizen-centric content to provide Singaporeans with easy access to information and services to increase health literacy, encourage the adoption of healthy habits and to nudge Singaporeans to take greater ownership of their own health and wellness. Users can check their key medical records and appointments from public healthcare institutions. This early release is designed to solicit user feedback, so that the portal and mobile application can be enhanced. With user inputs, HealthHub can develop into a “must-have” digital companion for healthy living for Singaporeans. It will provide easy access to reliable health-related content, key medical records and e-services.
2 The introduction of HealthHub is in line with the Government’s aim to build a Smart Nation by harnessing information technology to improve lives, create more opportunities and build stronger communities[1]. It also advances the Healthcare 2020 vision of improving accessibility to health services as well as HPB’s Healthy Living Master Plan’s vision of making healthy living natural and effortless for Singaporeans.
3 Ministry of Health’s Chief Information Officer, Mr Bruce Liang, said, “Recent research has found that sourcing for health information is a popular online pursuit globally[2]. With Singapore’s high Internet[3] and smartphone penetration rates[4], introducing HealthHub and making it accessible through both the internet and mobile application platforms, will bring added convenience to Singaporeans and make it easier for everyone to take ownership of their own health.”
HealthHub Features
4 Starting with the early release today, Singaporeans can access a select range of useful health information and services through HealthHub at www.healthhub.sg. The mobile application can be downloaded for free from the Apple App store and Google Play Store.
5 General health and wellness content on HealthHub takes into account the Singapore lifestyle and healthcare trends here. The content spans a myriad of topics, including chronic diseases, mental wellbeing, nutrition and physical activity. Pulling together such health and wellness information in one location will allow easy and convenient access to knowledge to foster health literacy and promote healthy living.
6 A new service provided on HealthHub is the availability of health records of users. With a SingPass login, parents will be able to view their children’s health records, such as immunisation records, dental health records and referral letters. It also provides patient information, such as hospital discharge summary, lab test results (chronic diseases), screening records and future medical appointments.
7 HealthHub also features various deals made possible through partnerships with healthcare, wellness, recreation, fitness and food and beverage establishments. Users will also be able to earn and accumulate reward points – Healthpoints – when they share health articles or events read on HealthHub on social media platforms. This encourages individuals to pass on useful health and wellness information to their family and friends. Healthpoints can be converted into rewards such as NTUC LinkPoints, which can be used to offset grocery bills, redeem vouchers and other deals offered by participating partners.
8 Additionally, HealthHub provides an extensive directory of healthcare and lifestyle facilities and services available islandwide. This will allow users to locate the nearest and most appropriate facility for their medical and lifestyle needs, including the locations of polyclinics, healthier eateries and sports facilities.
9 To be built in phases, HealthHub will be continuously enhanced over the next few years to ultimately feature even more information and services such as the payment of medical fees; patient medication list to help patients and caregivers keep track of the medication the patient is on; and allowing parents to print their children’s immunisation history.
10 Mr Zee Yoong Kang, Chief Executive Officer of Health Promotion Board (HPB) said, “HealthHub is an expression of the public healthcare institutions’ commitment to empowering Singaporeans to live healthily. Through the HealthHub, users can also obtain information on the various HPB programmes that they can participate in and benefit from. As the portal evolves with additional features and content, our goal is for it to be an authoritative and credible source of health and wellness information, supported by our healthcare systems and public healthcare partners, and a useful tool for Singaporeans to manage their health better, adopting healthier lifestyles and practices.”
11 Ministry of Health’s Chief Medical Informatics Officer, Associate Professor Low Cheng Ooi highlighted the continual enhancement of the portal, “With an emphasis on building up a citizen-centric portal, the HealthHub team is looking to co-create the content with the community, based on their needs and interests. The HealthHub team welcomes public suggestions and feedback to this early release. This will enable the HealthHub team to introduce relevant content in the subsequent releases so that HealthHub becomes increasingly useful to Singaporeans, enabling them to take greater ownership of their own health and wellness.”
[1] http://www.pmo.gov.sg/smartnation
[2] http://nuviun.com/content/what-Pews-new-global-attitudes-research-means-for-digital-health-providers#sthash.IFd8M2Wx.dpuf
[3] https://www.ida.gov.sg/Tech-Scene-News/Facts-and-Figures
[4] http://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/sg/Documents/technology-media-telecommunications/sg-tmt-global-mobile-consumer-survey-noexp.pdf