Fees Of Community Hospitals

23 Mar 2009

Question No:  965  

Question

Name of the Person: Mdm Halimah Yacob

To ask the Minister for Health (a) what measures are in place to ensure that fees of community hospitals remain affordable; (b) whether more assistance will be provided to these community hospitals if their donations are affected by the economic downturn; (c) whether the Ministry will consider reviewing the means testing criteria to align them to those of the public hospitals; and (d) what is the impact on the Ministry's efforts to encourage patients to move from acute hospitals to community hospitals

Reply

Reply From MOH

1. By design, community hospitals (CHs) cost less to run than acute hospitals.  They are less capital, manpower and skills intensive.  This does not compromise care because the patients admitted there do not require the intensive treatment offered by acute hospitals.  The cost of running the CH is about a third that of an acute hospital.

2. MOH subsidises many patients for their CH care.  Our subsidy extends up to middle income Singaporeans, say with monthly income of up to $5,200 per month for a family size of 4.  Patients can use Medisave to help pay their bills and Medishield also covers CH hospitalisation for those who subscribe to it.  For patients who still have financial difficulty paying the bills, Medifund provides the safety net.  In addition, the CHs run by charities raise funds, as part of their social mission, to help provide financial assistance to patients in need.

3. Last year, MOH increased the subvention to the CHs to help them and their patients cope with the economic slowdown.  We will do more, if necessary. 

4. I have explained before why means-testing in CHs and acute hospitals are not identical though both share the same objective of wanting to help the low income group.  However, we will be flexible to any patient who gets missed out at the margin.

5. Patients who no longer need acute hospital care and can benefit from CH care will save money if they transfer to a CH.  We set up the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) last year to strengthen discharge planning and facilitate transfers. As a result, the number of admissions to CHs has increased steadily.  We are also getting acute hospitals to collaborate closely with CHs to make the transfers hassle free. TTSH and Ren Ci CH formalized such a collaboration recently; we encourage other hospitals to do the same.