Patient-centric care means respecting individual patients’ preferences, needs and values while ensuring clinical decisions are guided by those values. It requires providing care that is respectful, coordinated, and tailored to each person’s unique circumstances. This is a shift from one-size-fits-all medicine to personalised healthcare journeys.
For Chin Wei Jia, group CEO of HMI Medical, this philosophy is deeply personal. “Healthcare is more than patient care. I’ve always felt healthcare just boils down to that moment when somebody needs help, and we’re there at that point in time. Even though we may be serving thousands of patients, it still boils down to that one experience, one patient, one person at a time,” she says.
Recognising this, Chin led HMI Medical’s transformation from hospital operator to integrated healthcare group. This journey, which is rooted in family values, has earned the company the EY-Bank of Singapore Family Enterprise Award of Excellence for 2025.
Preserving values while transforming
Chin joined HMI Medical in 2002 as part of its second-generation family leadership during a period of corporate restructuring following the Asian Financial Crisis and Sept 11 attacks in the late 1990s and early 2000s, respectively. The family enterprise’s foundational values have guided the organisation since its founding.
“At HMI, we have our three Cs: compassion, competence, and collaboration, as well as a very strong focus on community. This is something that never loses sight of why we are here. Purpose defines a business. Purpose defines individuals. Connection to purpose is the most powerful thing for any person,” explains Chin.
See also: HMI Medical’s group CEO Chin Wei Jia named EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2025 Singapore
These family values have enabled long-term, patient-focused thinking unconstrained by quarterly earnings pressures. “As a family enterprise, what’s important is that we’re able to stay rooted in our core purpose and values while transforming as the industry advances. We remain committed to the founding vision and mission of delivering holistic, quality and convenient healthcare, from prevention to home care. Yet, we’re open to embrace change and take a longer-term view on investments, strategy and direction,” Chin adds.
This stewardship approach proved crucial when HMI Medical made its most counterintuitive decision: competing with itself. As a hospital-focused business, investing in ambulatory care centres that offered similar quality at roughly 20% lower costs than private hospitals challenged the existing business model.
“It is a competitive model for hospitals, including our own, but we know that it makes sense. It helps more patients access private healthcare,” Chin argues. “In order to drive the sustainability of the business, we should always challenge our own business model before we are forced to change by others.”
See also: Leveraging tech is the way forward for entrepreneurs in a volatile future: EY’s Liew
That calculated risk has proven transformative. HMI Medical now operates across the entire value chain of healthcare — from primary care, telemedicine, diagnostics, ambulatory and speciality care, tertiary care to training and corporate health administration — serving over 3 million patient visits annually.
Managing this complexity while preserving family values requires careful governance. Independent directors play a crucial role in this balance. “While preserving stewardship of the business, independent directors bring in different professional perspectives: finance, business, legal, and other lenses. They help us examine our development process by bringing in experiences from different markets and industries. They’re able to share best practices that we review and incorporate as we decide what’s next and what’s best for the company,” she says.
Building an ecosystem
The family’s long-term perspective enabled HMI’s boldest transformation, which was acquiring medical benefits administrator and healthcare platform MHC Asia Group two years ago. Bringing together two established businesses required unifying them around a shared mission to deliver timely care and improve lives.
The integration created capabilities that address a fundamental patient anxiety. Chin shares: “We’re not just looking at the patient experience but also the payment experience. [This is because] after knowing that they have a medical condition, most people would immediately think of cost and affordability.”
HMI Medical’s integrated platform now helps patients navigate across public and private healthcare systems, providing transparency on coverage and treatment options. “We want to give them certainty as they’re navigating their personal health journeys, whether it’s an outpatient journey, inpatient journey, day surgery, or even a tele-consultation.”
This patient-centric approach extends beyond HMI’s walls. “Patient-centricity is not just looking after the medical and clinical aspects, but the patient journey and the support they feel throughout their care pathway. We’re working with partners across the ecosystem, locally and internationally, so that we can bring the best in class for each person depending on their needs,” says Chin.
The philosophy takes shape in tangible ways. For breast oncology patients, HMI Medical provides care pathways certified by the Joint Commission International, including multidisciplinary tumour boards and dedicated nurse navigators available around the clock.
“Patients require not just the medical treatment but the whole experience and support throughout their medical condition. Some questions patients have aren’t clinical, like where to buy a wig or what to eat after chemotherapy,” she shares.
The nurse navigator system allows earlier intervention. Discomfort that might once have been quietly endured between appointments is now noticed sooner. Constant contact is maintained, which helps escalate minor signs of distress into timely care.
Tech-enabled care
Technology reinforces HMI Medical’s core values and commitment to better care. Last year, the hospital became the first in Malaysia to deploy an intelligent ward system developed in collaboration with its nursing teams. The system automatically captures patients’ vital signs and clinical data, cutting manual recording time by 34% and improving nurses’ response times to critical alerts by 64%. Real-time updates on discharges, procedures and meal plans have also helped raise patient satisfaction scores by 87%.
To further improve patient outcomes, HMI Medical’s flagship hospitals — Mahkota Medical Centre in Malacca and Regency Specialist Hospital in Johor — now offer robotic-assisted surgeries as a cost-effective alternative to traditional open or laparoscopic surgery. Using robotic arms and high-definition 3D cameras controlled from a console, surgeons can perform complex procedures with enhanced precision, control, and vision.
This minimally invasive approach helps shorten recovery times for patients undergoing urological, gynaecological, colorectal and general surgeries. Over time, the hospitals plan to expand its use to more procedures, including those involving the prostate, kidneys and women’s health.
HMI Medical will continue developing digital health services through its patient-facing mobile app designed to “drive access, convenience and certainty” across the care journey. By applying AI and analytics, the company hopes to gain deeper insights that improve clinical decisions and strengthen its business.
The company’s focus extends beyond treatment to prevention. “We are actively building our outreach into neighbourhoods and workplaces, doing more in what I call health optimisation space to help people stay healthy and support them before they become patients.”
HMI Medical has also launched social initiatives, including caregiver training through a social enterprise, which offers volunteer training and first responder courses in communities and workplaces. “With the ageing population, the need for caregiver training and awareness of different conditions will only grow. We’ll remain laser-focused on what matters most for the patient and build the ecosystem around them.”
Looking forward
When HMI Medical turned 25 last year, it conducted a strategic review and rebranding that set out a vision for the next quarter century: to spark change in healthcare through an integrated platform delivering care both in person and online across ecosystems.
At the core of that vision is the idea that patients should be able to move seamlessly between HMI’s ecosystems in Singapore and Johor, Malaysia. The plan draws strength from the Johor–Singapore Special Economic Zone and the upcoming Rapid Transit System, which promise to make cross-border care more fluid than ever. Chin explains that Singaporeans will be able to seek high-quality, cost-effective treatment at HMI’s expanded facilities in Johor, while Malaysians can be referred to specialised centres in Singapore for advanced procedures not yet available locally.
The vision is backed by substantial investment. Regency Specialist Hospital in Johor has been expanded into the largest private hospital in South Malaysia, bolstering its oncology and neuroscience capabilities.
In Singapore, HMI Medical has built a network of centres of excellence in different disciplines, including urology, orthopaedics and even dermatology. “With more options and guidance to navigate their care journey, we can bring greater value to more people,” Chin says.
The physical expansion is coupled with a commitment to technological innovation, including investments in AI and precision therapeutics. By building best-in-class medical services across the healthcare continuum, HMI Medical aims to become a trusted partner for patients and their families. The company’s guiding principle remains that focusing on optimal patient outcomes is the most sustainable path to generating long-term returns, asserts Chin.
