The Control Yuan yesterday called on the government to improve the National Health Insurance (NHI) System prescription reimbursement scheme to reduce the waste of medical resources.
A quarter of medication reimbursed by the NHI system is not taken, which amounts to a waste of about NT$30 billion (US$1.03 billion) every year — based on the assumption that drugs coverage accounts for a quarter of the NHI’s total expenditure, or about NT$500 billion — Control Yuan member Shen Mei-chen (沈美真) said.
Shen said the prescription reimbursement scheme wasted huge amounts of medical resources, not only leading to chronic financial constraints on the NHI system, but also to insufficient coverage for costly medical treatments.
The NHI’s prescription reimbursement system leaves many hospitals in financial trouble and encourages doctors to over--prescribe, Control Yuan member Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄) said.
Huang suggested that the Bureau of National Health Insurance, which manages the NHI system, review its reimbursement policies to ensure fair and rational rewards for hospital and doctors, which he said are important components in sustaining the NHI system.
The country has seen a shortage of medical personnel specializing in internal medicine, surgery, gynecology and pediatrics because of the NHI’s problematic reimbursement scheme, which leads to an overworked and underpaid medical work force, Huang said.
The Control Yuan suggested that the government set up an institution, modeled on The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence — an independent organization in the UK responsible for providing national guidance on promoting good health and preventing and treating poor health — to bring together medical experts and professional groups whom it can consult with regularly to improve the NHI.
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