Population- and Provider-Centered Primary Healthcare in Singapore

Policymakers must build iteratively on the successes and lessons learnt from previously implemented primary care models, such as the Teamlet care model in public primary care settings, the private–public partnered Family Medicine Clinic model, and private sector-led Primary Care Networks, which are supported by public sector healthcare support services, adopting an evidence-based implementation science approach to develop new policies that are sustainable and scalable in the context of limited fiscal resources, a constrained healthcare manpower pool, and a rapidly aging population.The next generation of primary care should include components of health and social integration, leveraging the built environment and technology, multidisciplinary team-based and longitudinal relationship-based care, and hospital-to-community integration across both private and public primary care and supported by an ecosystem of carers anchored on the family physician.To be successful, Healthier SG and other models of primary care must consider performance management measures that incentivize appropriate care and good person-, population-, and system-level outcomes, strengthening the capability of primary care providers in both health and social care, strengthening relationships with all healthcare providers to implement integrated care pathways across the care continuum, and deploying an interoperable information system for care coordination, comprehensive clinical decision-making, and continuous improvement through feedback.