Singapore legislation
Regulation 37
of Healthcare Services (Outpatient Medical Service) Regulations 2023
Regulation 37
Financial counselling
Subregulation 1
This regulation applies in relation to the provision of any claimable outpatient medical service by a licensee to a patient.
Subregulation 2
A licensee must, before providing any claimable outpatient medical service to a patient, provide information on the fees charged by the licensee for the claimable outpatient medical service, to the patient or (if the patient is a minor or lacks mental capacity) a next‑of‑kin or carer of the patient.
Subregulation 3
For the purposes of paragraph (2), the information on the fees for a claimable outpatient medical service must include —
the estimated range of fees for the claimable outpatient medical service;
the fee benchmark for the same or similar claimable outpatient medical service that is published on the website of the Ministry of Health at https://www.moh.gov.sg (if available);
whether any part of the fees mentioned in sub‑paragraph (a) may be —
deducted from any medisave account;
reimbursed under the MediShield Life Scheme; or
reduced by any subsidy or grant under a public scheme; and
any other benefit that the MediShield Life Scheme provides to the patient in respect of the outpatient medical service, if any.
Subregulation 4
A licensee need not comply with paragraph (2) if the patient is assessed by a medical practitioner to be in a critical condition and needs to receive the outpatient medical service without delay.
Subregulation 5
The licensee must, after providing the information mentioned in paragraph (3) to the patient or the next‑of‑kin or carer of the patient, obtain an acknowledgment from the patient, next‑of‑kin or carer (as the case may be) and keep the acknowledgment as part of the patient’s patient health record.
Subregulation 6
In this regulation —
Definition
“claimable outpatient medical service” means an outpatient medical service provided by a licensee to a patient who may claim under the MediShield Life Scheme for reimbursement (whether wholly or in part) of the charges incurred in receiving the service;
Definition
“medisave account” means a medisave account maintained under section 13 of the Central Provident Fund Act 1953.