The Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI) yesterday announced that it will launch a one-year trial program next month to provide subsidized medical treatment for patients with chronic Hepatitis B and C.
Sheen Mao-Ting (
Hepatitis C patients with twice the normal amount of ALT will be eligible for coverage.
Those eligible for the trial program will only have to pay 20 percent of their treatment costs.
According to Sheen, Hepatitis B patients pay around NT$33,000 a year for medication while Hepatitis C medication costs about NT$100,000 a year.
Sheen estimated that a total of 100,000 people will be affected by the trial program and he estimated the cost at between NT$1 billion and NT$1.5 billion.
The bureau said it will also gradually widen the scope of insurance coverage to include medication for high blood pressure, schizophrenia and cervical cancer.
"The amount the bureau will cover will depend not only on the number of patients with hepatitis but also on the quality of treatment offered by hospitals," Sheen said. According to Sheen, the bureau plans to provide financial incentives to medical-care providers by increasing the amount of reimbursement that a hospital or clinic is entitled to if its treatments meet the bureau's standards.
"For high blood pressure and hepatitis, we will look into whether patients decide to transfer to other hospitals and whether a patient's situation improves. As for cervical cancer, we will award doctors who make the initial diagnosis because many women are not aware that they have cervical cancer," he said.
"We're still working on how to deal with schizophrenia, but most likely we will reward hospitals that make sure patients are consistently taking their required medication," Sheen said.
The bureau is also trying to encourage the early diagnosis of chronic disorders.
"In the past, we've covered treatment costs, but never diagnosis. We are now prepared, however, to reward doctors who find disorders in children aged three and under," he said.
"This new system provides incentives for hospitals to provide quality service for patients," Sheen said. "If we find that many patients decide to transfer out of a hospital, we can cancel the hospital's contract, taking away their right to claim their reimbursements from us."
Liu Chien-Hsiang (劉見祥), the bureau's vice president and chief operating officer, commented, "Unless there are any serious problems, this [quality incentive] program probably won't be discontinued."
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