Starting from next year, doctors will receive 20 percent more compensation for patients under the age of two, the Department of Health announced yesterday.
The Bureau of National Health Insurance currently pays pediatricians NT$213 for basic hospital visits. That rate would be hiked by roughly 20 percent to NT$260, Deputy Minister of the Department of Health Chen Shih-chung (
As long as the patient is under two years old, the increased rate will apply even if they are treated by non-pediatricians. Parents of patients under the age of three incur no out of pocket costs for routine visits under the NHI.
"We are not out to favor pediatricians over other specialists," said Chen, "but it is a fact that pediatricians have to spend more time and effort with their patients, meaning that at current levels of payment, they are relatively poorly compensated for their work."
Chen said that the department will improve pediatric care in other ways in the coming years, including encouraging the use of medicines dosed specifically for children rather than diluting or splitting medicine meant for adults.
This move is also a part of the necessary process of adjusting the remuneration for different types of clinical visits, Chen said.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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