The Department of Health (DOH) said yesterday that starting next month, the maximum amount hospitals and clinics can charge patients for registration fees for a doctor’s appointment is NT$150.
The department also set the cap for registration fees for emergency hospital visits at NT$300.
However, as there are no laws governing how much hospitals can charge for registration fees, the DOH can only advise hospitals on what would be a reasonable amount rather than issuing fines to institutions that do not comply, Bureau of Medical Affairs Director Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said.
The issue of large discrepancies between hospitals’ registration fees surfaced two months ago, when the Bureau of National Health Insurance asked medical institutions nationwide to provide information on registration fees.
The results showed that although most hospitals and clinics charged patients between NT$100 and NT$150 for a doctor’s appointment, some hospitals, such as the Chung Shan Hospital off Renai Road in Taipei, charged up to NT$300 for regular visits and NT$450 for emergency visits.
Conversely, small clinics in rural parts in southern Taiwan charged as little as NT$20 to NT$30 for an appointment.
The large discrepancy was attributed to various factors that influence the hospitals’ finances, such as the cost of living in the area and hospital expenses such as salaries and rent, the DOH said.
Shih said that even though authorities did not have the legal power to issue fines to hospitals that charge unreasonably expensive registration fees, the DOH can pressure them to comply by publicizing on the DOH Web site the names and addresses of hospitals that charge exorbitant fees.
“Currently, only about 20 [hospitals and clinics] do not meet the requirements,” Shih said.
“We will continue to supervise and evaluate the hospitals. If they do not make improvements, we will publicize their names,” Shih added.
The DOH also called on the public to let it know if they find hospitals charging registration fees above the maximum amount set by authorities.
Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan would issue a decision at 8pm on whether to cancel work and school tomorrow due to forecasted heavy rain, Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said today. Hsieh told reporters that absent some pressing reason, the four northern cities would announce the decision jointly at 8pm. Keelung is expected to receive between 300mm and 490mm of rain in the period from 2pm today through 2pm tomorrow, Central Weather Administration data showed. Keelung City Government regulations stipulate that school and work can be canceled if rain totals in mountainous or low-elevation areas are forecast to exceed 350mm in
TRAFFIC SAFETY RULES: A positive result in a drug test would result in a two-year license suspension for the driver and vehicle, and a fine of up to NT$180,000 The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to authorize police to conduct roadside saliva tests by the end of the year to deter people from driving while under the influence of narcotics, it said yesterday. The ministry last month unveiled a draft of amended regulations governing traffic safety rules and penalties, which included provisions empowering police to conduct mandatory saliva tests on drivers. While currently rules authorize police to use oral fluid testing kits for signs of drug use, they do not establish penalties for noncompliance or operating procedures for officers to follow, the ministry said. The proposed changes to the regulations require
EVA Airways president Sun Chia-ming (孫嘉明) and other senior executives yesterday bowed in apology over the death of a flight attendant, saying the company has begun improving its health-reporting, review and work coordination mechanisms. “We promise to handle this matter with the utmost responsibility to ensure safer and healthier working conditions for all EVA Air employees,” Sun said. The flight attendant, a woman surnamed Sun (孫), died on Friday last week of undisclosed causes shortly after returning from a work assignment in Milan, Italy, the airline said. Chinese-language media reported that the woman fell ill working on a Taipei-to-Milan flight on Sept. 22
1.4nm WAFERS: While TSMC is gearing up to expand its overseas production, it would also continue to invest in Taiwan, company chairman and CEO C.C. Wei said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has applied for permission to construct a new plant in the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區), which it would use for the production of new high-speed wafers, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council, which supervises three major science parks in Taiwan, confirmed that the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau had received an application on Friday from TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, to commence work on the new A14 fab. A14 technology, a 1.4 nanometer (nm) process, is designed to drive artificial intelligence transformation by enabling faster computing and greater power
RSS