13 Oct 2021 (Wed) – Morning Programme | Day 2 – Track 2
Track 2: Care Models from Around the World
A New Care Model for Singapore? Learnings from US Home Hospital Experiences | 9:45 – 10:15am
Dr. David Levine, M.D., M.P.H., M.A., Medical Director of Strategy and Innovation, Brigham and Women’s
Hospital Home Hospital
Key Learning Highlights: Dr. Levine from Brigham and Women’s Hospital shared interesting insights on
hospital at home deployments in the US where a typical home hospital service involved daily nurse, medic
or doctor visits, IV medications, respiratory treatments, remote vital sign monitor, diagnostic testing and
24/7 phone or video call access to care team. Currently over 75 DRGs are approved to be cared from
home.
Randomised controlled trials conducted since 2016 has shown that patients recover better at home due to
familiarity in environment, greater family support, and more opportunity for physical movement as
compared to laying on a hospital bed. Compared to acute care in hospital, patients reported 38% lower
cost of care due to fewer complications and reduced lengths of stay.
The key technology enabler is the availability of affordable portable diagnostics, prognostics and
therapeutics gadgets that can send data to the care team over the internet. Hospitals also do not require
an expensive complex control tower to monitor their patients’ conditions as the care teams can easily view
the patients’ health status from their mobile devices.
The Oncologist as a GP: Integrating Primary Care into Specialty Practice in Singapore | 10:30 – 11:00am
Dr. Steven Tucker, M.D., FACP, FAMS, Senior Consultant, Specialist in Medical Oncology and Founder,
Tucker Medical
Key Learning Highlights: Dr. Steven Tucker of Tucker Medical is an oncologist that expanded his
practice to include primary care as he believes chronic diseases are essentially lifestyle problems.
He shared the shift in treatment paradigm from traditional (diagnosis, treatment and cure) to new care
models that involve primary prevention, diagnosis, treatment, cure and secondary prevention.
Technologies such as Internet of Things, wearables, fitness and sleep trackers allow care teams to monitor
and understand their patients better to provide tailored lifestyle advisory and chronic disease management
services.
His wish list to augment IT capabilities in GP includes a primary care dashboard for holistic view of patient
or even population longitudinal health conditions, collaboration tool between patients and physicians with
integration to EHR, audio notes and a knowledge depository where GPs can learn best practices from
each other.
Holistic Community Care in Japan | 11:15 – 11:45am
Ms. Li Lian Ng, Co-founder and Managing Director Tetsuyu Healthcare Holdings
Dr. Shinsuke Muto, Co-founder and Director Tetsuyu Healthcare Holdings, Singapore President, Tetsuyu
Institute Medical Corporation, Japan Chairman, Integrity Healthcare, Japan
Key Learning Highlights: Dr. Shinsuke Muto and Ms. Li Lian Ng of Tetsuyu Healthcare shared about the
digital health trends in Japan.
The key learnings from the session include:
- The population enjoyed low cost and high quality care under universal health insurance system that
resulted in low urgency to adopt technologies for home care and disease management.
- Low EMR adoption (around 34%) and fragmentation (data and systems) led to polarisation that prevent
healthcare providers to coordinate care effectively.
- Tetsuyu’s Care4Wounds solution allows clinician remote management of bed sores and wound
treatments via teleconsultation with nurses. The adoption rate has increased since the full liberalisation of
telemedicine in 2020 that allows insurance reimbursement.
Realising the Promise of Digital Health – Lessons from Europe | 12:00 – 12:30pm
Mr. Thomas Hummel, Asia Pacific Regional Executive, Epic
Key Learning Highlights: Some challenges for digital health adoption are common across the globe,
such as provider and patient resistance to change, issues surrounding who pays for the digital health
solution (patient, provider, payer, employer, solution provider etc), data privacy and ethical use of data, as
well as complex regulatory environment for software as medical device.
Mr. Thomas Hummel of Siemens Healthineers shared unique challenges in Europe such as:
- The introduction of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gave people rights to
control the assess to their personal data, but at the same time, it posed inconveniences to researchers
who are conducting analytics projects and developing AI models.
- The passing of the Digital Healthcare Act in Germany allows the reimbursement of telehealth and digital
therapy in 2020 due to COVID-19. However, the act may be reversed after the pandemic as the law was
passed in haste.
- Different regulatory philosophies across different region has made scaling of digital health solutions
globally challenging. EU is now attempting to determine the regulations surrounding AI for the region.
Closing Session: Telehealth – Caring for Singapore Through Digital Innovation | 12:45 – 13:15pm
Mr. Lim Wai Mun, Founder & CEO, Doctor Anywhere
Key Learning Highlights: Mr. Lim Wai Mun from Doctor Anywhere shared his experience in launching
telehealth services in Singapore in 2017 which was initially met with challenges such as ingrained
consumer preference for in-person visit, especially when GP clinics are just a few steps away, and the lack
of coordination between private telehealth providers with regional healthcare systems.
COVID-19 has given telehealth the boost it needed, especially with the home recovery plan where
Singapore’s Ministry of Health refers COVID-19 positive patients to private telehealth providers and enable
them to try the platform. This increases consumer confidence to consult doctors remotely.
Doctor Anywhere is now available across several southeast asian countries with new service offerings,
such as home based health screening, healthy lifestyle advisory services and market place for
supplements and medical devices.
Contact Us
For general enquiries, please contact the HealthTech X team at
ihis.healthtechx@ihis.com.sg
