Lowering Administrative Burden for Private Clinics to Enrol in CHAS

71 Mr Ong Teng Koon asked the Minister for Health whether the Ministry can encourage more private clinics to accept CHAS cards by lowering the administrative burden for private clinics to enrol in the programme.

Mr Gan Kim Yong: Since the introduction of the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) in 2012, the number of clinics participating in CHAS has more than doubled. In 2018, there were over 1,000 CHAS general practitioner (GP) clinics and 700 CHAS dental clinics island-wide. About 90% of cardholders would also have access to at least one CHAS GP clinic within 400m of their homes.

To participate in CHAS, clinics must complete an e-learning module to familiarise themselves with the scheme. GP clinics must also be accredited for MediSave so that they can make MediSave claims for patients. We have streamlined the processes involved in enrolling in CHAS as well as allowed clinics to register for and complete their e-learning modules while their application for accreditation is being processed.

CHAS is a voluntary scheme, and clinics may choose not to participate in CHAS for a variety of reasons. Nevertheless, we will continue to encourage GP clinics to participate in CHAS and help play a bigger role in providing affordable primary care to Singaporeans. We will also continually review how our processes can be streamlined, so that it is easy for them to do so. Clinics with specific suggestions may write in or call the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) to provide their feedback.