More than NT$1.7 billion (US$55.55 million) in medical resources were wasted last year because people did not return to hospitals to check the results of their computerized tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, with some even retaking the tests at other hospitals, the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) said.
Failure to return to a hospital within 30 days of getting scans done is not only a waste of resources, but also puts an unnecessary burden on hospital staff, NHIA Director-
General Lee Po-chang (李伯璋) said on Saturday last week.
There were 127,000 cases of people not collecting their CT scan results within 30 days last year — or 15 percent of the total number of CT scans — wasting about NT$560 million of resources, the agency said.
Moreover, there were 42,000 cases of people retaking the same test at different hospitals, accounting for 5 percent of the total and wasting NT$180 million, it said.
A total of 88,000 cases of MRI scans — or 16 percent of the total — were also not collected last year, resulting in NT$720 million in wasted resources, the agency said, adding that there were 37,000 cases of tests being retaken at other hospitals, which cost NT$300 million.
Annual health insurance expenditure totals about NT$600 billion, and the agency is having a hard time keeping up with the costs, it said.
Lee said he did not know how severe the issue of wasted resources was until he scrutinized the data.
The problem might be due to the misconception that hospitals would notify people about the scan results instead of patients returning to pick them up, Lee said.
Another possibility is that people feel there is nothing wrong with them and so do not feel the need to get the results, he said.
Aside from CT and MRI scans, there are more than 1 million tests conducted by hospitals annually whose results are not picked up, he said.
These include X-ray, ultrasound, pathology, urinary and blood tests for cholesterol levels and to analyze risks of heart disease, he said.
Lee urged doctors to be more alert to potential waste of resources and to talk to patients about the importance of getting their test results and having them explained by a doctor.
Cutting wastefulness will keep health insurance costs from rising, which benefits the public, he said.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas