Expansion of CHAS Chronic subsidy and MediSave for video consultation to all chronic conditions under the Chronic Disease Management Programme

1. From 9 October 2020, the Ministry of Health (MOH) will expand CHAS Chronic subsidy and MediSave to support video consultation for the regular follow up of all 20 chronic conditions under the Chronic Disease Management Programme (CDMP). Please refer to Annex A for the full list of chronic conditions covered under the CDMP.

2. On 3 April 2020, MOH introduced a time-limited and exceptional extension of CHAS Chronic subsidy and MediSave for the regular follow-up of seven chronic conditions through video-consultation to support safe distancing measures. Since then, some 235 private healthcare institutions were able to provide video consultations that can be covered by CHAS Chronic subsidies and MediSave. The expansion will enable more patients whose conditions are stable to benefit by avoiding a physical visit to the clinic while still receiving care.

3. Patients can tap on the prevailing CHAS Chronic subsidy and MediSave (i.e. MediSave500 and Flexi-MediSave) limits to offset the cost of video consultation, related drugs and investigations.

4. This extension will remain active until the de-activation of the Public Health Preparedness Clinic (PHPC) scheme, or as otherwise determined by MOH. MOH will review the use of CHAS Chronic subsidy and MediSave for video consultations in the longer term, taking into account learnings and data from the existing extension.

5. Healthcare professionals who wish to provide video consultations covered by CHAS Chronic subsidies and MediSave are first required to undergo telemedicine e-training. MOH has also provided guidelines to healthcare providers to only carry out video consultations for suitable patients and have assessed that an in-person physical examination is not required.

6. Specifically, healthcare providers should only carry out video consultations for patients that the providers had physical consultations with previously, to confirm the patient’s suitability for video consultation before its use. Whenever it is assessed to be necessary, such as when a patient has atypical symptoms or a physical examination is required, the provider should ask the patient to visit the clinic for a physical consultation.

7. The list of private healthcare institutions providing CHAS Chronic subsidy and MediSave for video consultations of the selected chronic conditions can be found at www.moh.gov.sg/covid-19/vc. Patients may also wish to check with their healthcare provider to ascertain their suitability for video consultations of the selected chronic conditions.

MINISTRY OF HEALTH

9 OCTOBER 2020