HomeWise › Caregiver Guides › OT Home Assessment Cost
Subsidies & AssessmentUpdated August 2026 · 7 min read
Search for occupational therapy costs in Singapore and half the results are about children — school readiness, sensory processing, handwriting. Very little is written for the person who actually needs it: an adult child trying to work out what an assessment costs for an ageing parent, and whether it is worth it. It is, and this page explains why.
The short version
AIC lists Home Therapy from S$125 per visit before subsidies. Eligible seniors pay well below that.
Going through a polyclinic or hospital doctor is usually the cheapest route.
The assessment is not optional if you want SMF — it is the document the subsidy runs on.
One assessment can unlock all three schemes: SMF, HDB EASE and EASE (Private).
AIC publishes Home Therapy from S$125 per visit before subsidies. What you actually pay depends entirely on which door you come through.
There is no single price, because occupational therapy for seniors in Singapore is delivered through several channels with different subsidy treatment. A referral from a polyclinic doctor lands you in the subsidised system. Walking into a private clinic does not.
| Route | How it works | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Polyclinic or hospital doctor | Ask at the next appointment. The doctor can refer you, and can submit the SMF application online. | Subsidised |
| AIC Home Therapy | Occupational therapy delivered at home. AIC lists it from S$125 per visit before subsidies. | From S$125, before subsidy |
| Medical social worker | If your parent is in hospital or attending a day rehabilitation centre, ask the MSW to arrange it. | Usually subsidised |
| Community providers | NTUC Health, TOUCH, Care Corner and AWWA all run home therapy. Most need a doctor's referral or memo. | Varies, often subsidised |
| Private occupational therapist | Fastest route if you are not going through a subsidy. Rates vary widely. | Private rates |
Subsidies for AIC Home Therapy require the senior to be a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident, and are means-tested. Figures as published by AIC, checked August 2026.
Ask the doctor at their next polyclinic or hospital appointment. That single sentence solves it for most families.
The doctor can make the referral and submit the application online. If your parent is already receiving care — a day rehabilitation centre, home nursing, a hospital stay — the medical social worker can arrange it, and often faster.
If your parent is not under any care provider at all, call AIC directly on 1800 650 6060, or visit an AIC Link. Community providers including NTUC Health, TOUCH, Care Corner and AWWA also run home therapy programmes, though most require a doctor's referral or a memo confirming the need.
There is also a published list of occupational therapists who conduct these assessments, maintained on the government's go.gov.sg service. If your parent already sees an OT, you can approach them directly rather than starting over.
This is the part most families discover too late. An occupational therapy assessment is not just advice — it is the document the money runs on.
SMF will only subsidise devices the assessor has recommended. Wheelchairs, walking frames, commodes, shower chairs, hospital beds — all of it needs assessment by a qualified assessor first. Subsidy runs up to 90% of the device cost.
If the senior is 65 or older, no assessment report is needed for EASE. But if they are between 60 and 64, both EASE schemes require a Functional Assessment Report confirming they need help with at least one activity of daily living — endorsed by a doctor, registered nurse, physiotherapist or occupational therapist.
So for a 62-year-old, one OT visit can support an SMF application and an EASE application at the same time.
Get assessed before you buy anything
SMF does not reimburse devices bought before approval. Families routinely buy a wheelchair or a shower chair first, then discover the subsidy is gone. The order is always: assessment, then application, then approval, then purchase from an approved vendor.
The therapist watches your parent move through their own home — getting out of bed, walking to the toilet, stepping into the shower, reaching a cupboard. They are looking for where the risk actually is, which is often not where the family assumed.
They then recommend specific equipment at specific heights and placements. A grab bar in the wrong position is worse than none, because it invites a grab that will not hold. This precision is the real value, and it is why buying first and asking later goes wrong so often.
Bring a list. Our Visit Prep tool generates a printable set of questions and a profile of your parent's situation, so you get the most out of a visit that may only last an hour.
AIC lists Home Therapy from S$125 per visit before subsidies, and eligible Singapore Citizens and PRs pay considerably less once means-tested subsidies apply. Going through a polyclinic or hospital referral is usually the cheapest route. AIC also notes that seniors applying for SMF pay an assessment fee starting from around S$10.
Yes. AIC requires the senior to be assessed by a qualified assessor — a doctor, registered nurse, physiotherapist or occupational therapist — before SMF will subsidise a device. The assessment must happen before you buy, because SMF does not reimburse retrospectively.
The simplest route is to ask the doctor at their next polyclinic or hospital appointment, who can refer you and submit the application. If they are already receiving care, ask the medical social worker. If they are not under any care provider, contact AIC directly on 1800 650 6060.
They watch how your parent moves through the home — getting out of bed, using the toilet, stepping into the shower — and identify where the risk is. They then recommend specific equipment at specific heights and placements, and write the report that supports a subsidy application.
HomeWise turns your parent's situation into a printable list of questions, the products worth discussing, and the subsidy questions to ask while the therapist is still in the room.
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