Singapore’s Mobile Inpatient Care @ Home (MIC@Home) programme is expanding, allowing more patients to receive hospital-level treatment in their own homes instead of in wards.
Key Developments
- Initially launched in 2022 for post-hospitalisation patients, MIC@Home now includes patients referred from GPs, polyclinics, community care teams, and nursing homes.
- At NUHS, the programme (NUHS@Home) has cared for nearly 7,000 patients, saving 42,000 hospital bed days since its pilot in 2020.
- Common conditions treated include pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and cellulitis, especially among older adults.
Expansion Across Healthcare Clusters
- SingHealth: Offers home-based care for neonatal jaundice cases and is extending to more patients.
- Sengkang General Hospital: Trialling services with nursing home residents.
- National Healthcare Group: Plans to include psychiatric patients assessed as suitable for home care.
Patient Experience
- Patients are monitored through teleconsultations and home visits by doctors, nurses, and allied health teams.
- For example, NUH heart surgery patient Paul Faulkner continued recovery at home with daily check-ins and alternate-day visits for treatment, reporting better comfort and recovery.
Costs & Future Plans
- Daily charges are slightly lower than hospital wards (e.g. $39–$43 at home vs. $52–$57 in hospital, after subsidies).
- NUHS@Home currently operates 100 virtual ward beds with 160 staff, aiming to expand to 400 beds by 2030.
- The vision: make home-based care the default, reserving hospital wards for patients who truly need them.
