Sylvia Lim on Building a Healthier SG

How does the Government intend to ensure that the move to capitation funding under Healthier SG does not undermine access to healthcare and the quality of healthcare? Raising this question in Parliament on Wednesday (Oct 5), MP Sylvia Lim said Singapore should be “alive to the risks” of this model of funding. She cited evidence from studies conducted overseas. Some studies found that capitation funding tended to result in patients receiving less treatment than with fee-for-service models, and it was unclear if this was due to reduction in unnecessary treatments and waste, or whether patients were underserved. Other studies revealed that doctors believed the different model of funding had affected the way they chose to treat patients. Ms Lim noted that the level of funding was key - if capitation funding was pegged more generously, the quality of care would generally be better. Given that the formula in Singapore will be tiered based on residents’ health risk profile, scope of required care and progress made in terms of preventive care or chronic disease management, she asked what level of granularity will be used to determine this. Ms Lim also said the cost projections include the annual servicing fee for patients, and asked if this meant that the Ministry of Health had already worked out detailed capitation sums for each health risk profile and if so, when this information would be published. She concluded by saying that for Healthier SG to succeed, a whole-of-society buy-in will be needed, including “the monumental task” of changing some deep-seated mindsets and habits.