Fees for emergency room visits, nursing and beds are to be increased by May at the earliest to address overcrowding, raising National Health Insurance (NHI) expenditure by more than NT$4 billion (US$121.82 million) annually, the National Health Insurance Administration announced yesterday.
The agency met yesterday to discuss strategies to alleviate emergency room overcrowding and nursing staff shortages.
Emergency room consultation and nursing fees would increase by 10 percent, while emergency bed nursing fees would rise by 60 percent, agency Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said after the meeting.
Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Taipei Times
Nursing fees are currently included in consultation fees for emergency room visits, but after the changes, physician consultation fees and nursing fees would be paid separately, with both increasing by 10 percent depending on the severity of the patient’s condition, Shih said.
For example, for Category 1 triage cases, the consultation fee would rise from NT$1,223 to NT$1,345, and the nursing fee would rise from NT$577 to NT$635, Shih said.
This is expected to add NT$730 million annually to NHI expenditures, he said.
The two fees would also be paid separately for emergency room observation beds, with the physician’s fee set at NT$468 per consultation, the same as for beds in hospital wards, Shih said.
Nursing fees would increase by 60 percent, reaching 90 percent of the nursing fees for acute general beds, he said.
The fee for the first day would increase from NT$571 to NT$914, and the fee for the second day would rise from NT$175 to NT$703, he said.
This is expected to add NT$430 million annually to NHI expenditures, he said.
Regarding intensive care unit (ICU) fees in emergency-responsible hospitals, fees for high-severity hospitals would be adjusted to match those of medical centers, while fees for moderate-severity hospitals would be similar to regional hospitals, Shih said.
It is estimated that 25 regional hospitals and one district hospital would have fees adjusted to those of medical centers, while 26 district hospitals would have fees adjusted to those of regional hospitals, he said.
This would help more hospitals share the burden of emergency patient care and is expected to add NT$590 million annually to NHI expenditures, he said.
Nursing fees for general wards would also be adjusted, Shih said.
The initial plan is to invest NT$2.5 billion to improve the nursing workforce and prioritize increasing nursing fees for acute general beds, he said.
Hospitals must meet certain requirements before receiving additional subsidies, including increasing nurses’ salaries, lowering the emergency room retention rate and sending more critical patients from the emergency room to the ICU, Shih said.
The goal is to resolve the issue of emergency patients being unable to transfer to hospital wards, preventing prolonged stays in the emergency room and reducing the strain on the healthcare system, he said.
The planned adjustments are to be reviewed during the hospital budget meeting this month and further discussed later this month, Shih said.
The changes are expected to be implemented in May at the earliest, he said.
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