In recent years, there have been significant changes to the healthcare landscape in Singapore.

While almost all healthcare services were previously provided from physical ‘brick-and-mortar’ locations, there are emerging new healthcare services and models, in response to changing care needs and patient expectations. Some examples include home and community-based care and telemedicine services. Further, new technological advancements such as proton beam and cell, tissue and gene therapy as well as clinical genetic testing services have emerged.

Therefore, it is timely to update the regulatory framework to ensure that it remains relevant to current and emerging models of care and that patient safety and welfare are safeguarded.

The main objective of HCSA is to better safeguard the safety and welfare of patients and to ensure continuity of patient care. This is done through ensuring regulatory clarity, strengthening governance and accountability of licensees and introducing new and enhanced safeguards for patient safety, welfare and continuity of care. The Act also allows a more flexible and modular servicesbased licensing regime that caters to the licensing of different healthcare services, while enabling the development of new and innovative services, centred around patient needs.