At\u00a0HealthTechX\u00a0Asia 2026\u00a0event in Singapore, Dr\u00a0Ravi Sachdev, Chief Clinical Informatics Officer at Singapore\u2019s Tan Tock Seng Hospital, outlined a vision for \u201c24\/7\/365\/360\u201d healthcare.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This was\u00a0a\u00a0model that gives patients greater flexibility over how and when they receive care while empowering them to take a more active role in managing their health using easily available tech tools.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The concept\u00a0centres\u00a0on two key principles: care should be data-driven, and technology-enabled.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
With virtual care, remote monitoring, artificial intelligence (AI), and connected devices, providers today do not have to rely solely on face-to-face encounters and are better positioned to deliver\u00a0personalised\u00a0and accessible services.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Virtual care as an experience, not just a tool\u00a0<\/h3>\n
The term \u2018virtual care\u2019 is often associated with telemedicine or video consultations. But Dr\u00a0Sachdev\u00a0emphasised\u00a0that virtual care is much broader.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTelehealth is a tool. Virtual care is the\u00a0experience,\u00a0how the provider interacts with the patients,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Virtual care encompasses the entire patient journey, integrating technologies such as wearable devices, remote diagnostics, digital health platforms, and AI-supported decision-making.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n The goal is not simply to replicate physical consultations online, but to redesign how care is delivered.\u00a0<\/p>\n Singapore already\u00a0possesses\u00a0many of the building blocks needed to support this transformation, including high smartphone adoption, widespread broadband access, and growing familiarity with digital tools across all age groups.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The challenge, according to Dr\u00a0Sachdev,\u00a0is not whether patients can use these technologies, but whether healthcare providers offer opportunities for them to do so.\u00a0<\/p>\n Evidence\u00a0suggests that\u00a0patients are ready.<\/p>\n Studies consistently show\u00a0strong patient demand for virtual care<\/a>, with 74\u00a0per cent\u00a0of patients reporting that they are comfortable communicating with doctors using technology rather than in-person, and 67\u00a0per cent\u00a0saying telemedicine increases their satisfaction with care.\u00a0<\/p>\n One model gaining traction globally is virtual-first care (V1C), where patients have the ability to initiate care anywhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dr\u00a0Sachdev proposed combining this approach with \u201cseamless care\u201d \u2014 ensuring clinicians have access to the information, tools, and support services\u00a0required\u00a0to make good clinical decisions regardless of where the consultation occurs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Together, these concepts form Virtual-First Seamless Care (V1SC).\u00a0<\/p>\n Under this model, a patient visiting a general practitioner (GP) who\u00a0requires\u00a0specialist input would no longer need to wait weeks for a hospital appointment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Instead, they could access a specialist consultation within hours or a few days, through a virtual setup or\u00a0Telepod\u00a0located near the GP clinic.\u00a0<\/p>\n With remote examination tools and integrated access to medical records, specialists could assess patients, order investigations,\u00a0initiate\u00a0treatment, and\u00a0determine\u00a0whether a hospital visit is necessary.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Some patients may still\u00a0require\u00a0in-person care, but many could continue receiving follow-up support virtually.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou find that this brings that patient through the healthcare journey much, much more efficiently,\u201d said Dr\u00a0Sachdev.\u00a0<\/p>\n This could reduce specialist waiting times for patients, ease pressure on hospitals, and strengthen collaboration between specialists and primary care providers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n It also aligns with Singapore\u2019s Healthier SG strategy, which aims to strengthen the role of primary care and encourage more continuous patient-GP relationships.\u00a0<\/p>\n A common concern surrounding virtual care is also whether clinicians can adequately assess patients remotely.<\/p>\n Dr\u00a0Sachdev argued that advances in virtual examination technologies are rapidly expanding what is possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n At Tan Tock Seng Hospital\u2019s Centre for Virtual Care, clinicians can conduct\u00a0teleconsults\u00a0in purpose-built\u00a0Telepods, equipped with digital stethoscopes, vital\u00a0signs\u00a0monitoring\u00a0devices, and EMR access.\u00a0<\/p>\n Patients can also be guided to perform self-assessments, as guided by providers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Studies have been done for years on conducting auscultation \u2013 the medical practice of listening to internal body sounds \u2013 remotely.\u00a0<\/p>\n Results have been encouraging, with clinicians able to diagnose conditions based on quality recordings of lung, abdominal, or heart sounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n There is also Remote photoplethysmography (rPPG), a contactless technology that uses videos of faces to extract health parameters, such as heart rate.\u00a0<\/p>\n Many solutions in the market have\u00a0demonstrated\u00a0high accuracy \u2013 the next step is to see whether these results can be replicated across different patient populations.\u00a0<\/p>\n Looking ahead, Dr\u00a0Sachdev sees consumer health technologies and wearables becoming increasingly sophisticated and medical-grade, offering providers rich streams of real-time patient data.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In addition, virtual care is set to evolve and expand to become \u2018healthcare\u00a0everywhere\u2019;\u00a0while AI-driven clinical decision support goes mainstream.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe virtual-first seamless care approach is eventually going to change how care is delivered,\u201d he noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAI is not going to replace the clinician. But as providers, we will be able to empower our patients to manage their own\u00a0health, and\u00a0turn to us when they need specialist input or more advanced treatment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere will always be a role for physicians, and there is a role for AI and definitely a very, very big role for virtual care.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The article was originally published in Hospital Management Asia\u00a0here<\/a>, and edited.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n ———————————-\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Cindy Peh is the Content and Community Manager at Hospital Management Asia, which\u00a0showcases\u00a0trends and best practices in healthcare management via in-person and digital events, as well as an online publication.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n At\u00a0HealthTechX\u00a0Asia 2026\u00a0event in Singapore, Dr\u00a0Ravi Sachdev, Chief Clinical Informatics Officer at Singapore\u2019s Tan Tock Seng Hospital, outlined a vision for \u201c24\/7\/365\/360\u201d healthcare.\u00a0 This was\u00a0a\u00a0model that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=68805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68805\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gov-web-sing.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2026\/7\/HTX-Ravi-inner-1536x1024-1783584886445.jpg\")
Virtual-First Seamless Care model\u00a0<\/h3>\n
Increasingly advanced remote monitoring technologies\u00a0<\/h3>\n
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