Implementing chronic disease management in the public healthcare sector in Singapore: the role of hospitals.

The public health care delivery system in Singapore faces the challenges of a rapidly ageing population, an increasing chronic disease burden, increasing healthcare cost, rising expectations and demand for better health services, and shortage of resources. It is also fragmented, resulting in duplication and lack of coordination between institutions. A disease management approach has been adopted by the National Healthcare Group (NHG) as a critical strategy to provide holistic, cost-effective, seamless and well-coordinated care across the continuum. The framework in the development of the disease management plan included identifying the diseases and defining the target population, organizing a multi-disciplinary team lead by a clinician champion, defining the core components, treatment protocols and evaluation methods, defining the goals, and measuring and managing the outcomes. As disease management and case management for chronic diseases are new approaches adopted in the healthcare delivery system, there is a lack of understanding by healthcare professionals. The leadership and participation of hospital physicians was sought in the planning, design and outcomes monitoring to ensure their 'buy-in' and the successful implementation and effectiveness of the program. The episodic diagnosis related group (DRG)-based framework of funding and subvention for healthcare, and the shortage of step-care care facilities, have been recognized by the Ministry of Health as an impediments to the implementation, and these are currently being addressed.