Singapore, 24 July 2018 – NTUC Income (Income) and RafflesHealthinsurance (RHI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of RafflesMedicalGroup (the Group), announced today a strategic partnership to introduce the IncomeShield Private Specialist Panel (the Panel).

In addition to offering IncomeShield policyholders access to over 200 medical specialists in private practice spanning across different specialty areas via the Panel, RHI will also extend clinical indicator assessment to Income as part of the partnership. The assessment ensures that the Panel delivers appropriate and high quality healthcare to IncomeShield policyholders sustainably.

Additionally, RHI will also ensure that the Panel offers equitable representation of medical specialists from within and outside the Group, whom are of good reputation and experience in the industry, to meet diverse healthcare and medical needs. More significantly, through the combined scale of Income and RHI, the strategic partnership aims to lend strength to the curation of quality medical specialists in private practice for the Panel.

The introduction of the Panel demonstrates Income’s commitment to ensure that its health insurance remains accessible, affordable and sustainable for everyone in Singapore. It is also aligned to the Health Insurance Task Force’s (HITF) recommendation for all stakeholders in the healthcare ecosystem to collectively play an active and collaborative role in managing medical care and health insurance costs in Singapore. This is particularly important in view of Singapore’s ageing population and rising healthcare costs.

Commenting on the strategic partnership with RHI, Mr Andrew Yeo, Income’s General Manager for Life and Health Insurance, said: “RHI stands out as a strategic partner for us as it allows Income to tap its in-house medical expertise and ready network of practitioners in and beyond the RafflesMedicalGroup. The latter is the only healthcare institution in Singapore that subscribes to the Institutional Group Practice Model. It advocates physicians to render patients quality-assured medical services that are peer reviewed and medically audited.”

“Such an approach demonstrates RHI’s commitment to quality assurance and it is particularly pertinent when RHI has oversight of the Panel delivering positive clinical outcomes sustainably. With the IncomeShield Private Specialist Panel, we are looking forward to serve our policyholders better by offering high quality and cost-efficient healthcare, especially when medical panels have proven to be effective in calibrating and managing the fees of healthcare providers,” Mr Yeo added.

Ms Christine Cheu, General Manager of RafflesHealthinsurance, added: “We are pleased to be Income’s trusted partner to provide this value-added service to IncomeShield policyholders. The HITF has made specific recommendations to achieve more efficient and sustainable outcomes for policyholders, patients, healthcare providers and insurers. This partnership is, thus, not only in line with HITF’s recommendations, but also augurs well for the entire insurance and healthcare industry as we would be able to provide better care and service to more people.”

Starting from today, IncomeShield policyholders can access and book an appointment with a medical specialist on the Panel via Income’s website (www.income.com.sg/value-added-services/specialist-panel) and enjoy priority booking while doing so.