Under MOH's Guidelines under the Private Hospitals and Medical Clinics Act and Regulations (“PHMC Guidelines”), medical practitioners are encouraged to make available to their patients, prior to consultation, information on charges which are likely to be incurred for consultation, investigation and treatment.  Regulation 11 of the Private Hospitals and Medical Clinics Regulations currently requires by law every manager of a hospital to ensure that every patient be informed, on or before his admission to the hospital, of the estimated total charges which are likely to be incurred in respect of his hospitalization and treatment.  This is to allow patient and family to make proper informed choices.

How much doctors choose to charge for consultation will be affected by a multitude of factors, such as overheads, doctors’ qualifications, clinical procedures involved etc.  It is better to leave fees to competition and market forces.  If healthy competition encourages doctors to innovate or find ways to cut costs in order to offer competitive consultation rates, then this will benefit patients at large.

The Singapore Medical Association has announced that it will be conducting a survey on clinic charges and professional fees, and that the data will be published.

The Competition Commission of Singapore (CSS) focuses on the market conduct of businesses, with the aim of promoting healthy competition.  The Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act (CPFTA) protects consumers from misleading or deceptive tactics that some businesses use when consumers enter into transactions with them. Complaints relating to CPFTA issues should be sent to CASE.  If there is gross over-charging that amounts to unethical and unprofessional practice, the doctor concerned will be referred to the Singapore Medical Council (SMC).

The clinic charges should be displayed prominently on boards, tent cards or notice printouts, and, if necessary, supplemented with printed pamphlets or brochures.  The charging information should be prominently and strategically displayed for the convenience of the patients.  Verbal advice should also be given if required.

Charges for routine services being provided by the clinic should be displayed.  Some examples are consultation, health screening, medical report, vaccination charges.

Yes, if the charges are standard/fixed.  Display of charges in the form of a fee range is acceptable, e.g.

Long consultation               $A - $B
Short consultation               $D - $E
Vaccination/immunization  $G - $H
Health screening                $J - $K
Medical reports                  $M - $N

These are for services that the patient may not expect to need initially, but deemed necessary during or after consultation, e.g. lab/x-ray investigation, injection, surgical procedures like toilet and suture.

Such information should be provided before the additional services are rendered (except for emergency cases), either verbally during or at the end of the consultation when the treatment plan is decided.

With effect from 1 April 2008, every patient has to be presented with a bill.  The bill must list every service and the amount that the patient is being charged for.

Example of a bill for treatment of fever, cough and cold:

Consultation fee	$a
Full blood count	$b
Panadol	$c
Clarytyn	$d
Phensedyl	$e
Total	$T

Not necessary.  It can be handwritten or a computer printout.

No, you are required to show each and every medication dispensed and the amount charged.

The requirement of bill itemization is to provide greater transparency to the public.  It is based on a direct payer principle, i.e. itemized bill should be issued to whoever pays for the healthcare service. 

In the instance where a third party/agent pays in full for the healthcare service, the patient need not be issued with an itemized bill.  However, as long as the patient co-pays, regardless of the amount, he would have to be issued with an itemized bill.