The National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) has expanded National Health Insurance (NHI) coverage of telemedicine services to include divisions of cardiology, gastroenterology, neurology and pulmonology starting this month, in a change that is expected to benefit nearly 800,000 people.
The NHIA last year started covering telemedicine services used by people living in mountainous areas and on outlying islands amid increased need during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the coverage was limited to divisions of ophthalmology, dermatology and medicine focused on conditions of the head and neck, as well as emergency treatment.
The administration’s plan increases the amount allocated for telemedicine from NT$100 million (US$3.34 million) last year to NT$170 million for hospitals and clinics providing consultations remotely or making visits to patients’ homes.
Photo provided by the Hualien Bureau of Health
It is also lifting a restriction limiting participation in the telemedicine program to one hospital or clinic in each area, it said.
To encourage more people to use “virtual” NHI cards, the administration said it would offer a monetary reward to hospitals and clinics that help people apply for them.
The virtual cards are used by more than 285,000 people, with nearly 110,000 applying for the cards after the application procedure was simplified on May 16, it said.
Medical resources are insufficient in mountainous areas and on outlying islands, where 2 percent of Taiwanese live, but only 0.75 percent of physicians work, NHIA Director-General Lee Po-chang (李伯璋) said on Saturday, adding that expanding the coverage gives residents in the areas access to more medical services.
People living in mountainous areas and on outlying islands seek medical treatment more often than the national average, sometimes as much as 14.4 times the national average, NHIA official Yu Hui-chen (游慧真) said.
Many of these places lack physicians who specialize in areas other than general and internal medicine, so telemedicine is needed to give people access to doctors who can consult remotely, she said.
Telemedicine covered by the NHI is different from the remote consultations adopted during the pandemic, which would eventually no longer be offered, she said.
Among the people who sought medical treatment through telemedicine in the first half of the year, 86 percent were over the age of 40 and more than 90 percent of them sought ophthalmology and dermatology care, NHIA data showed.
Telemedicine consultations are usually provided by doctors of a certain specialty at certain times, which might not always meet people’s needs.
To provide better care, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital set up the “Hua Ling medical station” in Taoyuan’s Fusing Township (復興) in 2002.
Local physicians can invite doctors with specialties to provide treatment remotely to people during the times they usually provide outpatient services by registering on-site or in advance, Chang Gung Medical Foundation CEO Pan Yen-chien (潘延健) said.
The government is promoting telemedicine through several programs, he said, adding that they can be integrated to popularize their use.
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