Speech by Minister of Health, Mr Gan Kim Yong, at the Opening Ceremony of the HIMSS AsiaPac12 Conference and Exhibition on 18 Sep 2012

Colleagues, friends, distinguished guests,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning.

Leveraging on IT for continuity of care

1          It is truly an honour for Singapore to host this HIMSS AsiaPac12Conference. Let me begin by extending a warm welcome to all our participants, especially overseas delegates and speakers.

2          Since the last time that Singapore hosted the HIMSS AsiaPac conference in 2007, so much has evolved. Our health systems have transformed into regional health systems, with increasing focus on keeping our patients well and well cared for across the care settings from hospitals to primary care to rehab care and nursing home care. Our emphasis has evolved from episodic care to preventive care to keep Singapore healthier.

3          Our healthcare system is facing similar challenges as many other countries around the world. Firstly, our population has been growing rapidly. Over the last ten years, our population increased by some 25%. We are also ageing rapidly. By 2030, 1 in 5 Singaporeans will be aged 65 and above. This is a threefold increase to 960,000 elderly, from around 350,000 today. With increasing life expectancy and changing lifestyles, we are faced with a growing burden of chronic diseases. As we plan for the future, we must also recognise that economic cycles will be increasingly volatile, and our economic growth is expected to be more modest compared to the strong growth we enjoyed in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s.

4          More of the same will not do. We need to fundamentally re-examine how healthcare services are organised and delivered. In the past when the population was younger, our healthcare system was focused mainly on the acute hospitals because diseases then were episodic in nature. With the population ageing rapidly, prevalence of chronic diseases is likely to rise. Effective chronic disease management is increasingly important and will require new models of care, especially within the community, to meet the challenges ahead. We have therefore been adapted a more holistic approach.

5          The patient’s healthcare providers in the acute hospitals, community hospitals, specialist centers, polyclinics, GPs and nursing homes need to be connected so that the right information is available and decisions can be made by any clinician to provide safe and informed care to the patient at any point in the care continuum.

6          IT systems have been employed to allow doctors to productively treat patients even in remote locations. At Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, for example, specialists can televisit residents of the St Joseph’s Aged Home and treat their patients without having either party to commute. This has been highly effective, with clear benefits for both patients and doctors.

7          Healthcare information must be current and complete to be useful. It is our aim that both the private healthcare and public healthcare sectors have their records linked together to facilitate referral and transfer of medical information.

8          Today our EMRs are linked across the whole spectrum of healthcare services in the public sector. A patient presenting himself at any of our public hospitals or polyclinics would have his medical record containing his prescriptions, medical conditions, allergies and previous diagnosis done at any of our public hospitals or polyclinics accessed by the physician in charge. Our films are read electronically and presented together with our Electronic medical records to the attending physician. Our nurses work off tasks lists which are electronically updated and presented. I am pleased to note that four of our hospitals have been certified at the HIMSS Stage 6 levels which is testimony of our commitment to using information and decision support systems for the effective and safe care for our patients.

9          The National EHR aims to connect the dots amongst public and private healthcare services so as to allow for a complete medical record of the patient. We need to move to the next phase which is to create meaningful use of our health records to proactively care for Singaporeans. Our Personal Health Management Programme aims to provide that connection between the citizen and the healthcare systems, so that we can empower Singaporeans to each play a part in keeping themselves healthy and health-aware as well as connect directly with our healthcare providers in the future.

10        Having a clinical repository of information for every patient is but only a first step to achieving better care for patients. What is more important is how we can use that information to pre-empt adverse medical conditions and deterioration in the condition of our patients. The rapidly growing field of healthcare informatics requires close collaboration between the healthcare practitioners and the IT professionals. The Centre for Health Informatics, an institute which sits with the School of Computing at the National University of Singapore, has been funded by the IDA and initiated by the founding members, IDA, NUS, MOH, MOH Holdings and IHiS to propel the field of healthcare informatics to a new level. The CHI will train IT professionals for a career in healthcare informatics and also train healthcare professionals in IT. They have partnered established institutes such as the OSHU, AMIA to conduct specialised courses in healthcare informatics as a start. We hope that the industry can take advantage of the training offered at the institute. We also welcome friends from the region to participate in these courses as well.

11        Since our last HIMSS AsiaPac conference in Singapore in 2007, we have also structured our IT teams into a combined shared service team represented by IHiS. IHiS has made significant progress in consolidating our IT systems for better connectivity and economies of scale.

Conclusion

12        Singapore has learnt much from many other systems in the world, to improve what we do in order that the best care can be given to our patients. This conference provides yet another learning opportunity for us as well as those from different countries to share notes. IT will play a key role in the transformation of healthcare services going forward. I commend the HIMSS organisation for creating this awareness through its various activities and programmes. May I wish all of you a successful conference and fruitful discussions ahead of you.

13        Thank you.