SINGAPORE, Jan 26 — Doctors in Singapore reportedly must obtain explicit patient consent before sharing any medical information with insurers, and may disclose only details that are directly necessary and relevant for insurance claims or underwriting assessments.
According to Singapore’s The Straits Times, the island nation’s Ministry of Health (MOH) reiterated that insurers are not permitted to access the National Electronic Health Record (NEHR) for insurance purposes under the new Health Information Act, and that doing so is a criminal offence.
The clarification follows Parliament’s passage of the Health Information Act on January 12, which will require all healthcare providers to contribute patients’ key health information to the NEHR to support continuity of care and coordinated treatment across Singapore’s healthcare ecosystem.
Under the Act, unauthorised access to NEHR information for excluded purposes such as insurance matters may lead to fines of up to $100,000 (RM312,681) or imprisonment of up to four years, or both.
MOH guidlines reportedly note that doctors should prepare separate reports or summaries for insurers, rather than sending raw medical records or accessing NEHR to respond to insurers’ requests.
The ministry has also emphasised that contractual terms, such as audit or inspection clauses in insurer-doctor agreements, cannot override legal and ethical obligations to protect patient confidentiality and limit NEHR access to clinical care.
The Health Information Act, expected to take effect in early 2027, forms part of Singapore’s broader effort to strengthen continuity of care and safeguard patient data while regulating how health information may be used outside treatment contexts.
