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Singapore: The government plans to release a site in the eastern part of Singapore for a new not-for-profit private acute hospital, which will fall under a fixed-price land tender approach, providing another lower-cost option for private healthcare.<\/p>\n
It will be the first land release for private hospitals in almost two decades if the government proceeds with its plan, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung on Thursday (Apr 9).<\/p>\n
The hospital can accommodate 300 to 400 beds, he added, during a speech marking the 65th anniversary of Mount Alvernia Hospital – Singapore’s sole not-for-profit private acute hospital.<\/p>\n
“Under such a model, bidders would then compete not based on how much they are prepared to pay for the land, but other qualitative factors, such as their care model, cost efficiency, approach to recruiting and developing manpower, and their commitment and policies towards affordable healthcare,” Mr Ong said, of the fixed-price model.<\/p>\n
Beyond that, the government will also implement restrictions on bill sizes, so that hospital bills are a “certain percentile of the market and cannot lead the market”.<\/p>\n
Back in 2024, Singapore announced plans to introduce a new not-for-profit private acute hospital model to better complement public healthcare and increase residents’ options for lower-cost private healthcare.<\/p>\n
MOH had invited private healthcare operators to participate in an industry consultation for the model.<\/p>\n
Mr Ong said on Thursday that rising private hospital costs were driven in part by overly generous insurance riders over the years, which encouraged both patients and providers to overconsume healthcare.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The strong insurance coverage also supported a private hospital operating model geared toward high-end care.<\/p>\n
“The last time government tendered out land for private hospitals was some 20 years ago. The land was won with a high bid price and today we have a high-end private hospital occupying the land,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“In the process, public healthcare also lost many good healthcare professionals to the private hospital, which was painful. That experience has made the Ministry of Health very cautious about having more private hospitals.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n