Dr Jen Wei Ying

“If you have an idea that you think will help people, just talk to others and make it a reality.”

ChemoCalc was built to help with the financial counselling process for cancer patients following the changes to MediShield Life and MediSave for outpatient treatments.

Financial counselling for chemotherapy is challenging because multiple drugs in combination are required to treat cancer. Every drug has different claim limits, with pricing based on a patient’s height and weight. Subsidy amounts differ due to means-testing and are hence individualised. Not knowing treatment costs adds anxiety to an already-trying time for patients and their caregivers, so we built ChemoCalc to help alleviate that stress, empowering patients to make informed decisions and seek help early if costs are prohibitive for them.

Find out more about ChemoCalc.

What were some challenges and how did you overcome them?

We wanted something simple and quick for frontline staff to use but which also gives reliable information. That meant amalgamating information from various sources. We had a very good team which worked closely with our technical partner to develop the solution.

Dr Jen is currently a Consultant with the Department of Haematology-Oncology at the National University Cancer Institute, Singapore (NCIS), and is also involved in teaching and research as a Senior Lecturer with the Department of Medicine at the National University of Singapore - Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. She is leading the adoption of new technologies to provide better care and improve patient experience at NCIS and the National University Hospital (NUH).