Faced with potential personnel shortages and the need to free resources for critical care, the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) is hoping to significantly cut outpatient visits to bigger hospitals in the near future, NHIA Director-General Lee Po-chang (李伯璋) said yesterday.
The agency has set a goal of cutting outpatient visits to medical centers and regional hospitals by 10 percent over the next five years, Lee said.
Last year, there were 30.69 million outpatient visits to medical centers, up from 25.62 million in 2010, and 41.14 million outpatient visits to regional hospitals, up from 33.46 million in 2010.
If the goal is achieved, the rapid growth in outpatient visits to the two types of medical establishments seen over the past seven years could be reversed and would fall by a combined 7 million over the next five years, Lee said.
The nation has tried for more than a decade to institute a multi-tiered healthcare system designed to get the most out of its medical resources.
Under the system, the best-equipped medical facilities — medical centers and regional hospitals — are responsible for handling serious illnesses or critical cases while leaving less urgent or more routine cases to district hospitals and clinics.
The issue has taken on new urgency, because doctors will start to be covered by the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) in 2019, possibly cutting the amount of time they can work and creating a personnel shortage at major hospitals, Lee said.
With that in mind and to ensure that big hospitals have sufficient resources for critical and emergency care, the NHIA needs to channel outpatients to smaller healthcare facilities, Lee said.
The initiative would see doctors at medical centers and regional hospitals transfer patients diagnosed with minor ailments to district hospitals and clinics to avoid wasting medical resources, he said.
At the same time, patients with serious conditions who first visit district hospitals and clinics should be transferred to medical centers and regional hospitals, he said.
About 12 to 14 percent of outpatient cases at medical centers and 20 percent of those at regional hospitals involve basic medical care, such as respiratory infections, conjunctivitis, abrasions or fungal infections, Lee said.
In other words, about one in every five to eight outpatients may be using resources that would better serve people with more serious ailments, he said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest foundry service provider, yesterday said that global semiconductor revenue is projected to hit US$1.5 trillion in 2030, after the figure exceeds US$1 trillion this year, as artificial intelligence (AI) demand boosts consumption of token and compute power. “We are still at the beginning of the AI revolution, but we already see a significant impact across the whole semiconductor ecosystem,” TSMC deputy cochief operating officer Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “It is fair to say that in the past decade, smartphones and other mobile devices were
US-CHINA SUMMIT: MOFA welcomed US reassurance of no change in its Taiwan policy; Trump said he did not comment when Xi talked of opposing independence US President Donald Trump yesterday said he has not made a decision on whether to move forward with a major arms package for Taiwan after hearing concerns about it from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Trump’s comments on Taiwan came as he flew back to Washington after wrapping up critical talks in which both leaders said important progress was made in stabilizing US-China relations even as deep differences persist between the world’s two biggest powers on Iran and Taiwan. “I will make a determination,” Trump said, adding: “I’ll be making decisions. But, you know, I think the last thing we need right
TAIWAN ISSUE: US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on the first day of meetings that ‘it wouldn’t be a US-China summit without the Taiwan issue coming up’ There were no surprises on the first day of the summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday, as the government reiterated that cross-strait stability is crucial to the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the world. As the two presidents met for a highly anticipated summit yesterday, Chinese state media reported that Xi warned Trump that missteps regarding Taiwan could push their two countries into “conflict.” Trump arrived in China with accolades for his host, calling Xi a “great leader” and “friend,” and extending an invitation to visit the White House
SECURITY: Taipei presses the US for arms supplies, saying the arms sales are not only a reflection of the US security commitment to Taiwan but also serve as a mutual deterrent against regional threats Taiwan is committed to preserving the cross-strait “status quo” and contributing to regional peace and stability, the Presidential Office said yesterday. “It is an undeniable fact that the Republic of China is a sovereign and independent democratic nation,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) reiterated, adding that Beijing has no right to claim sovereignty over Taiwan. The statements came after US President Donald Trump warned against Taiwanese independence. Trump wrapped up a state visit to Beijing on Friday, during which Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had pressed him not to support Taiwan. Taiwan depends heavily on US security backing to deter China from carrying
RSS