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Dialogue with the Agency for Care Effectiveness (ACE) Consumer Engagement & Education (CEE) Team: The Future of Patient and Public Involvement in Health Technology Assessment in Singapore

Patient Engagement is a key focus area of the Centre of Regulatory Excellence (CoRE) at Duke-NUS Medical School. The Centre has convened like-minded partners to jointly establish the Coalition to Accelerate Patient Engagement in Asia-Pacific (CAPE) to advance systematic and meaningful patient involvement in health systems across the Asia-Pacific region. CAPE is a multistakeholder partnership hosted at Duke-NUS Medical School; this platform provides an effective, neutral and safe engagement channel for raising awareness, convening and building capacity for patient engagement among the health sector stakeholders. As we continue to build our work in Singapore, the Agency for Care Effectiveness (ACE) is an important partner to CoRE.

ACE is the national health technology assessment (HTA) agency in Singapore within the Ministry of Health (MOH).  ACE reviews clinical and economic evidence to determine how well health technologies (such as drugs, vaccines and medical devices) work in relation to how much they cost. This information is then used by MOH to make funding recommendations for the public hospitals. In 2021, the Consumer Engagement and Education (CEE) team was set up to help patients, caregivers and the public become involved in ACE’s work. Moving forward, CEE will be inviting patient and volunteer organisations to provide inputs into ACE’s HTA evaluations to ensure that any recommendations are relevant to the people who are affected by them.

There is growing recognition in health systems globally that patients and caregivers have knowledge, perspectives and experiences that are unique and contribute to essential evidence for HTA. Involvement of patients and carers in health system decision-making contributes to equity by seeking to understand the diverse needs of patients with a particular health issue, balanced against the requirements of a health system that seeks to distribute resources fairly among all citizens. Patient involvement in health products development, regulation and HTA is still at a nascent stage in Asia compared to other regions. The new developments at ACE signal an opportunity to enhance patient engagement in Singapore.

On 18 November 2021, ACE and CoRE co-hosted the inaugural special dialogue for members of patient and volunteer organisations in Singapore to introduce them to the work of ACE and the CEE initiatives. Over 70 participants from more than 25 patient and volunteer organisations joined the closed-door discussion which highlighted capacity building needs among volunteer organisations, healthcare professionals and other stakeholders and provided important suggestions to enhance patient and caregiver involvement in Singapore. CoRE and ACE aim to continue to partner with patient organisations other stakeholders in Singapore to raise awareness of HTA and highlight the immense potential of engaging with patients as partners to improve our health system. 

CoRE CN: 2021_R002_CoRE_The Future of Patient and Public Involvement in HTA in Singapore

1. Click here to download the report: The Future of Patient and Public Involvement in HTA in Singapore.
2. Click here to download the slides: ACE-CEE The Future of Patient and Public Involvement in HTA in Singapore
3. Click here to download the ACE CEE Resource: Helping Patients Become More Involved in Healthcare Decision Making