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INTEGRATED HEALTHCARE The Singapore story Digital health may seem to be the answer to achieving patient-centric health, but there’s more to it than that. For healthcare to be truly patient-centric, it must first and foremost be ‘integrated’–‘One Patient One Health Record’, as envisioned by Singapore. While it may be tempting to assume that such a vision is quickly and readily realisable in a city-state like Singapore, this can’t be farther from the truth. Felix Lena Stephanie, Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
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igital health may seem to be the elixir to achieving patientcentric health, but there’s more to patient-centricity than that. For healthcare to be truly patient-centric, it must first and foremost be ‘integrated’ – ‘One Patient, One Health Record’- as envisioned by Singapore. While it may be tempting to assume that such a vision is quickly and readily realisable in a citystate like Singapore, this can’t be farther from the truth. Singapore is a multi-ethnic city-state with a population of 5.9 million. The island nation enjoys the rare distinction of being among the top ten healthiest countries in the world and having a healthcare system well regarded as one of the world’s most efficient. It boasts a two-tier system where the public and private sectors play intersecting roles in the provisioning as well as the financing of healthcare services. While 80 per cent of the primary healthcare demand
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