Preventive health offers new opportunities in private healthcare as patient needs develop: IHH
The private healthcare provider launches programme focusing on personalised preventive health, longevity
[SINGAPORE] Preventive healthcare is emerging as a new frontier for Singapore’s healthcare sector. This comes as providers shift from treating illness after it occurs to helping patients detect risks earlier and stay healthier for longer.
This was the message by Dr Peter Chow, CEO of IHH Healthcare Singapore, as the private healthcare provider announced a new programme across its Singapore operations.
IHH Healthcare Singapore is the local subsidiary of its Singapore Exchange-listed parent company IHH Healthcare Group , which is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur.
The programme, named Healthspan, was unveiled on Friday (Jul 10) at the FutureHealth.Now conference, the healthcare group’s flagship thought leadership event.
Healthspan will be integrated throughout the IHH ecosystem in Singapore, which comprises four private hospitals, more than 50 clinics and over 1,500 specialists.
Services include baseline health profiling, early risk identification, personalised care programmes, nutrition and exercise guidance, as well as ongoing tracking of health indicators to adapt interventions over time.
Individuals can enrol through five tiers of screening packages, ranging from the S$169 AgeQ assessment to a S$19,620 Pioneer programme that includes full-body magnetic resonance imaging and cognitive assessments.
AgeQ, one of the key features of the programme, is described by IHH as a first-in-market clinical assessment that estimates an individual’s biological age based on seven blood biomarkers through a proprietary algorithm.
Healthspan clinical director Kristine Xie said the programme was developed to help individuals better understand how they are ageing, and translate clinical data into practical recommendations.
Living longer and better
The launch of Healthspan comes as more players within multiple sectors tap into trends that have an impact on healthcare needs, Dr Chow told The Business Times during the conference.
As life expectancy increases globally, businesses and healthcare providers are offering services that emphasise healthy longevity, rather than simply treating diseases as they occur. These services range from offering cold-press juices to smartwatches that track fitness indicators.
“We are living longer than our parents and grandparents, but the challenge is also for us to achieve a longer number of years without illness and disabilities,” said Dr Chow.
Associate Professor Daniel Ting, director of the SingHealth artificial intelligence office, observed during a panel discussion that services optimising longevity have traditionally been expensive and catered to affluent customers.
But investments can be made in suitable technologies to democratise such offerings to a wider group of patients, he said.
This could include developments in AI technology, said Prof Ting. AI tools are already being adopted in healthcare delivery, panellists noted, with use cases from nurse rostering to radiological diagnoses.
Prof Ting added that AI tools are likely to accelerate other advancements in the medical field, including drug discovery, or agentic AI systems which provide services such as triage, counselling or education.
He said that national priorities towards public health have evolved in line with private healthcare’s technological shifts.
On Thursday, the Republic announced the initiative Singapore Medical Foundation AI Model (Simfoni), which would integrate AI models tailored specifically for Singaporean patients and medical practices into public healthcare systems.
Prof Ting added that healthy longevity is likely to become a critical part of the country’s public health strategy in future.
For IHH, Chow said that Singapore’s societal needs can also offer the company new opportunities to drive revenue through products that focus on preventive healthcare, beyond reactive models of care.
Traditionally, episodic care provided by a private hospital tends to generate its revenue only when a patient is in the hospital, Dr Chow noted. But evolving demand for preventive care and healthy longevity open up opportunities for a more steady revenue stream, he said.
“From a societal perspective, we think this is what patients want,” he said. “This also matches what is good for the business.”
