SG to mandate all private hospitals to share patient data with NEHR

Patients can opt out of having their essential medical data shared.

Singapore's Health Minister Ong Ye Kung introduced the Health Information Bill, which will require all healthcare providers to share essential patient data with the National Electronic Health Record (NEHR) for a centralised data repository.

The minister said that through this, NEHR datasets will be properly processed, anonymised, and securely used for research to generate insights, including training AI models to deliver predictive preventive care.

For primary care, polyclinics, and private clinics on Healthier SG, all use NEHR accounting for 70% of the primary care sector.

As for acute hospital care, public hospitals (90%) are already contributing to the NEHR whilst private hospitals (10%) are not yet on board.

“We have recently consulted all our private hospitals, and they have unanimously supported the legislation. Some have already started working with the Ministry of Health to prepare their IT systems for connection and interoperability with the NEHR,” Kung said.

Moreover, patients can opt out of having their essential medical data shared under the NEHR system.

The minister said the government hopes to pass the legislation early next year.