Director of Health Informatics and Technology (HIT) Policy and Governance, James Chia, lends insights into how IT policies empower Singapore’s healthcare transformation.
As Singaporeans reap the benefits of an efficient healthcare system today, not many are aware of the frameworks and policies that were put in place to anticipate and meet the healthcare challenges we are currently experiencing. Among them, are health informatics and technology (HIT) policies that govern the role of IT in healthcare – how they support and empower our healthcare system to deliver optimal patient outcomes.
One such person contributing to HIT frameworks and policy-making in Singapore is James Chia, Director of HIT Policy and Governance at Integrated Health Information Systems (IHiS). IHiS is Singapore’s national technology agency for public healthcare that digitises, connects, and analyses Singapore’s health ecosystem.
Bringing value to the healthcare system in a unique way
Many would be surprised to learn that James was an accountant by training, who then switched gears to embark on a career in business advisory. In those early days, he likened his role to being the bridge between finance and technology.
“I knew I wasn’t prepared for a career in accounting, and was clear about the new direction I wanted to take”, said James.
Making the switch early helped. James worked his way up from scratch and learning on the job. What he lacked in skills and experience, he made up for it in attitude and perseverance. And by embracing his mixed training and continuous learning, he became an ally in many functional units which allows him to bring value to the healthcare system in a unique way.
Defining the IT roadmap for Singapore’s healthcare transformation
James began his journey with IHiS in the corporate planning and development office in 2012. In 2013, he was seconded to MOH Holdings (MOHH) to be a part of the pioneering team that led the business architecture track of the Health IT Masterplan (HITMAP) development, where his role was to put in place a framework to guide IT development and investment.
MOHH is the holding company of Singapore’s public healthcare clusters – National University Health System, National Healthcare Group and Singapore Health Services.
Setting new HealthTech benchmarks as precedent across the nation
In 2016, the merger of MOH Holding’s Information Systems Department (ISD) and IHiS allowed James to combine both departments he managed into one operating entity. At the same time, extending from his HITMAP management function, he was given a concurrent appointment to oversee the IT portfolio management and governance function in the Ministry of Health (MOH).
In 2018, his role evolved to take on policy development work and he has since contributed towards various policies that were instrumental to Singapore’s healthcare transformation.
Some examples of the policies were such as:
• the policy direction to converge towards a common Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system for all public healthcare institutions to optimise IT capabilities and enable efficiencies to transform our model of care;
• a co-funding policy to guide the financing of strategic IT systems across public healthcare institutions, and;
• the ongoing development of a common HIT Policy Manual to guide effective use of HIT in the delivery of consistent and secure public healthcare services across the nation.
Shift in healthcare from reactive to preventive and proactive
James recalls how the early stages of the health masterplan concluded that Singapore needed to do more work with population health beyond the confines of hospitals and into patient homes. Consequently, that drove specific intent to steer IT investments towards population health solutions.
IHiS is leading the public sector by integrating intelligent and highly resilient technologies with healthcare processes and providers towards improving population’s health and health administration.
The complexity of how healthcare operates has also increased over the years, especially as the pace of digitalisation has quickened.
“Due to an ageing population and rise in chronic diseases, the scale of the healthcare sector has grown tremendously and undergone a series of re-organisation. Coupled with the fast-paced advancement of technology, consistency in IT practices can be challenging”, said James.
He added that healthcare needs to shift its centre of gravity away from treatment, to prevention and proactive management. This means that on top of providing seamless patient experiences, there is a need to nudge Singaporeans towards behaviours that keep us healthy for the long-term.
A privilege to be a part of Singapore’s healthcare history
James feels fortunate that his various roles at IHiS over the years have helped deepen his understanding of the healthcare IT operations in support of Ministry, agency, and healthcare cluster objectives.
“It’s a great opportunity and privilege to be a part of Singapore’s healthcare transformation journey that continually aims to provide quality, accessibility and affordable care that can be delivered sustainably for our people”, said James.
The transformation journey never ends
Singapore’s healthcare transformation is a continuous process to meet our growing healthcare challenges.
To keep himself relevant, James recently completed his Executive Master of Business Administration (eMBA) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) supported by IHiS.
He cites his responsibility to his family, team, organisation, and nation, to keep himself relevant so that he can continue to bring value in his work, and credits the recent curriculum in allowing him to broaden his horizons and perspectives on business management in healthcare, to better guide his policy-making in a changing world.
“My role at IHiS has allowed me to play a part in shaping how HealthTech affects our country, and I hope I can continue to do so. For Singaporeans – including my loved ones at home”, said James.
