Monthly Updates On Hospital Bill Sizes

01 Dec 2003

Introduction

On 29 September 2003, the Ministry of Health began publishing statistics on hospital bills for 28 common medical conditions on its website. On 1 November 2003, another 22 conditions were added, increasing the number of medical conditions published on the Internet to 50.

The next monthly update will be on 1 December 2003. The data presented on 1 December 2003 will cover the period from 1 November 2002 to 31 October 2003.

There are two refinements in this update.

(a) Inclusion of private hospital data

With the collaboration of the private hospitals, we will be including the bill sizes of private hospitals, starting with five day surgery conditions from 1 December 2003.

The five day surgery conditions are: 'Cataract surgery (phacoemulsification)'; 'Colonoscopy'; 'Gastroscopy'; 'Glaucoma surgery' and 'Myopia surgery (LASIK)'.

The participating private hospitals are: East Shore Hospital, Gleneagles Hospital, Mount Alvernia Hospital, Mount Elizabeth Hospital and Raffles Hospital.

However, the public may wish to note that while the bill sizes for all public hospitals are complete and include all charges including doctors? professional fees, the data for some private hospitals may not be complete as not all doctors? professional fees are fully captured.

(b) More Medical Conditions

From 1 December 2003, statistics on hospital bills for another 20 common medical conditions will be added. This will bring the total number of medical conditions published on the Internet to 70.

These 70 medical conditions account for almost 60% of all admissions to hospitals in Singapore.

Ministry of Health

1 December 2003