Acute Medical Teleconsultations for Nursing Homes: A Cost-Saving Service Model to Avoid Unplanned Hospital...
Care Process & Redesign
Technology
Singapore Healthcare Management Congress
SingHealth
11 February 2026
To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the EGC Acute Medical Teleconsultation service model in avoiding unplanned hospital. The service model shows potential for scale-up, highlighting its effectiveness in reducing hospital admissions and associated costs.
Year Submitted: 2025
Published Date: 11 February 2026
Tags: Care Process ＆ Redesign, Cost Saving, Productivity, Technology, Tele-Consultation, Telehealth
About this Content
Aims
To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the EGC Acute Medical Teleconsultation service model in avoiding unplanned hospital admissions among nursing home residents, compared to usual care where nursing home residents are sent directly to the emergency department (ED).
Background
The EAGLEcare (EGC) Acute Medical Teleconsultation is a service model introduced under the EAGLEcare programme by Sengkang General Hospital (SKH). It delivers timely acute medical care to nursing home residents via teleconsultation, aiming to reduce hospital transfers and enhance continuity of care on-site.
Methods
This retrospective economic evaluation used 2022-2023 data from EGC teleconsultations and SKH ED visits. A decision tree model was constructed to estimate the expected outcomes and costs of two pathways: EGC Acute Medical Teleconsultation versus Usual Care.
Results
The SKH EGC Acute Medical Teleconsultation service demonstrated cost savings of $444 per unplanned hospital admission avoided. In 2022 and 2023, the service helped avoid 418 hospital admissions, amounting to over $185,000 in cost savings for SKH and SCDF.
Conclusion
The service model shows potential for scale-up, highlighting its effectiveness in reducing hospital admissions and associated costs.
Lessons Learnt
By delivering timely clinical support to nursing homes, the service reduces avoidable ED visits and ambulance use, easing pressure on emergency services. These results support wider adoption of hospital-managed teleconsultation models to improve system efficiency and meet the growing demand from an ageing population.
Additional Information
The probability of outcomes on each pathway was derived from observed outcomes of 685 nursing home residents managed via the SKH-EGC pathway and 3,286 nursing home residents managed under the UC pathway.
This project was accorded the 1st Award for Operations category at SHMC 2025.
Keywords
Unplanned Hospital Admissions, Nursing Homes, Avoidable ED Visits
Innovators' Details
Innovators' Details
Healthcare Cluster(s) | SingHealth |
Organization(s) Involved | Sengkang General Hospital |
Platform(s) | Singapore Healthcare Management Congress |
Healthcare Professional Group(s) | Healthcare Administration, Medical |
Applicable Specialty or Discipline | Operations, Emergency Medicine |
Project Lead(s) | Russell Koh Yi Qian |
Project Member(s) | Angus Ng Jun Jie |
Connect with this contributor!
Singapore Healthcare Management Conference (SHMC) Secretariat - singaporehealthcaremanagement@singhealth.com.sg