On December 11, 2023, the Ministry of Health (MoH) requested public comments on the proposed Health Information Bill (HIB), publishing a consultation document for the HIB. The consultation document highlighted that the HIB will establish a framework to govern the safe collection, access, use, and sharing of health information across the healthcare ecosystem. More specifically, the consultation document for the HIB outlines that healthcare providers licensed under the Healthcare Services Act and approved contributors will be licensed to contribute selected patient health information to the National Electronic Health Record (NEHR). Likewise, access to NEHR data will be granted to licensed healthcare providers and approved for patient care under the HIB.

Health information to be provided under the HIB would include, among others:

• patient demographics;
• visits;
• medical diagnosis;
• operating theatre notes;
• discharge summaries; and
• investigation reports.

The consultation document also details proposals for sensitive health information, which will not be readily accessible compared to other health information. Specifically, the consultation document for the HIB provides that granting access rights to professionals does not mean that the professional is allowed to access the sensitive health information of patients they are not providing care to. Additional access controls on sensitive health information including double log-in functions within the NEHR, and mandatory incident reporting requirements in case of a breach of sensitive health information are noted under the HIB consultation document.

Notably, the consultation document clarifies that healthcare providers contributing to or accessing NEHR or care providers participating in data sharing use cases must meet a unified set of cybersecurity and data security requirements, that build on and complement the Healthcare Cybersecurity Essentials Guidelines and security standards published by the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore and Infocomm Media Development Authority.

Public comments can be submitted here until January 11, 2024.

You can read the press release here and the consultation document here.