The NEHR is the national repository that collects and stores a copy of your selected health information across different healthcare providers. It contains important details about your medical history that healthcare professionals would generally need to make more informed medical decisions and deliver safe and better care.

It provides secure access to a patient’s summary health record by authorised clinicians and healthcare professionals to:

• Enable greater coordination and informed decision-making.
• Support more accurate diagnosis, better treatment, and patient-centric integrated care.
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The goal of the NEHR is for patients to enjoy hassle-free healthcare delivery, higher quality of care, fewer duplicate or unnecessary tests and/ or referrals, reduced medical errors and adverse drug events.

To ensure security and confidentiality of patient's health information while the best care is provided, the NEHR enforces measures to authenticate, authorise and audit healthcare institutions and users’ access to patient's health record.

• Patient demographics
• Admission and visit history
• Discharge summaries
• Laboratory test results
• Radiology results
• Medication history
• History of surgeries or procedures
• Allergies and adverse drug reactions
• Healthier SG information
• COVID-19 records
  
   

Currently, all public healthcare institutions (such as restructured hospitals, polyclinics, community hospitals and specialty centres) and private hospitals have access to the information in the NEHR. Private healthcare institutions (such as GPs and specialist centres), nursing homes and relevant government agencies are progressively being onboarded for access. The list of healthcare institutions participating in the NEHR can be found here.

The NEHR is owned by the Ministry of Health of Singapore and managed by Synapxe, Singapore's HealthTech Agency.

The NEHR is a central repository which draws information from various contributing Health Information Management Systems (HIMS) and organises them in a summarised form which authorised clinicians and healthcare professionals can access.

With the backend system-to-system integration, the data contributed to the NEHR would be the same data entered at source. Therefore, any correction or updating of data would need to be done at contributing source. Data on the NEHR system is date-time stamped so it would be clear when the information was last updated.

While the NEHR serves as an excellent resource for healthcare professionals to support them in patient care, the patient needs to play their part by providing additional information, such as if they are consuming other medication bought from pharmacies or if they sought medical treatment overseas or if treatment was performed by clinics that have not started data contribution to the NEHR.

The NEHR adheres to stringent government security standards and undergoes regular independent audits, including vulnerability scans and penetration tests, to ensure compliance with the security standards for government-owned systems. To stay ahead of emerging threats, the NEHR regularly participates in threat hunting and bug bounty programs to deliver a secure and trusted platform for all. 

Furthermore, the Health Information Act (HIA) requires the Health Information Management Systems (HIMS) to be HIA-compliant for data contribution. To be HIA-compliant, HIMS are required to fulfil 3 key requirements, which include NEHR Connectivity, Cyber/Data Security Certification, and Data Portability.

For more information, healthcare providers can refer to Connect NEHR  here.

Two-factor authentication using CorpPass is required for logging in to NEHR to ensure only authorised access. There are also features in the system to detect suspicious access and usage. In addition, all access to the NEHR is captured in audit logs. Audits are also being conducted for the NEHR system (e.g. regular user accounts review) and on NEHR access to ensure appropriate use of the NEHR.

Patients will also be able to view a log of accesses by their healthcare providers to their records in the NEHR through the NEHR Access History feature in HealthHub.

For seamless provision of care, selected health information of all Singaporeans, Permanent Residents and Foreign Identification Number (FIN) holders are by default sent through the HIMS that are integrated with the NEHR. Currently, all public healthcare institutions and some private healthcare institutions are contributing health information to the NEHR.

NEHR potentially helps patients to save time and money, as it reduces the need to take duplicate tests or scans at different healthcare institutions. MOH is also helping healthcare providers to defray some of their costs of upgrading their IT Health Information Management Systems (HIMS) by making available various financial support schemes.

Access to the NEHR has to be authorised by the MOH and is granted to healthcare professionals listed in the Second Schedule of HIA who are involved in direct patient care.

In a GP clinic setting for example, clinic assistants would not be provisioned with an account, as they do not provide direct patient care. Likewise, employers, insurers and patients are not granted with NEHR access as well.

Yes, you will be able to see the access history via HealthHub (under the NEHR Access History section). The names of the private healthcare institutions and public healthcare clusters that have accessed your record in the NEHR will be listed in reverse-chronological manner for the past one year.

Please note that your healthcare professional is not required to access your NEHR during every visit; and also, access may be made before or after a scheduled visit. NEHR serves as a complementary tool to aid the healthcare professional in history taking and physical examination, when making a clinical assessment.

If you feel that your record has been accessed inappropriately, please contact us at nehr.feedback@synapxe.sg and we will facilitate the review of the case with MOH.

The NEHR is intended primarily for the provision of patient care and provides continuity of care, especially when the patients move between institutions within the healthcare ecosystem. It provides a record of the patient’s journey with each healthcare encounter, viewable across the care continuum (e.g. polyclinics, hospitals, specialist clinics, GP) to support seamless transition of care. This will enable healthcare providers to provide more accurate diagnosis and better treatment.

The NEHR can be used for statutory medical exam that is listed in the Third Schedule of HIA. It cannot be used for insurance or employment related purpose, and non-care purposes such as research, audits and teaching/education.

Access to the NEHR has to be authorised by the MOH and is granted to healthcare professionals listed in the  Second Schedule of HIA who are involved in direct patient care.

 

In a GP clinic setting for example, clinic assistants would not be provisioned with an account, as they do not provide direct patient care. Likewise, employers, insurers and patients are not granted with NEHR access as well.

The NEHR is intended primarily for the provision of patient care, and provides continuity of care, especially when the patients moves between institutions within the healthcare ecosystem. It provides a record of the patient's journey with each healthcare encounter, viewable across the care continuum (e.g. polyclinics, hospitals, specialist clinics, GP) to support seamless transition of care. This will enable healthcare providers to provide more accurate diagnosis and better treatment.

 

The NEHR can be used for statutory medical exam that is listed in the Third Schedule of HIA. It cannot be used for insurance or employment related purpose, and non-care purposes such as research, audits and teaching/education.

Patients do not have direct access to the NEHR.

As a patient, you may access selected health information through HealthHub. At present, you are able to view the following information in the NEHR through HealthHub:

• Discharge summary
• Medications
• Immunisation 
• Laboratory results
• Radiology reports
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As a caregiver (with consent granted by the patient through HealthHub), you may also view your loved ones’ health information, which includes school health records, school dental records and children immunisation records. 

For more information on the HealthHub, click here.

 

Health information is uploaded to the NEHR directly from the healthcare institutions. 

Addition or updates of your health information need to be generated and contributed to the NEHR based on your care episode with your healthcare provider.

Yes, you can place access restriction on your record in the NEHR.

You may visit one of these departments in public healthcare institutions to submit your request to place access restriction. Patients who wish to place access restriction will be counselled, to ensure that they fully understand the implications of this decision to their care as their providers will not have access to their records.

Once you have placed access restriction on your record in the NEHR,

 

• your record in the NEHR that is tied to your NRIC/FIN will be blocked from view to healthcare providers authorised with NEHR access, including those providing care to you.
• you will not be able to see your record in the NEHR via HealthHub.
• you will not be able to enrol in the Healthier SG programme.

To place or remove access restriction placed on your record in the NEHR, please approach one of these departments in public healthcare institutions. It does not have to be an institution that has your record. They will validate your identity in person and facilitate the process.

Since 2011, over 2,300 patients have placed access restriction on their records in the NEHR and more than 180 have removed access restriction placed after being counselled on the benefits of NEHR.