Illegal long-term care facility operators face fines of up to NT$1 million (US$35,790) if they are found to have caused the death of a tenant through negligence after the Legislative Yuan on Tuesday passed an amendment to the Long-Term Care Services Act (長期照顧服務法).
The amendment authorizes the Ministry of Health and Welfare to inspect the facilities of illegal operators, which are not allowed to avoid, obstruct or refuse such requests and must offer all information requested.
Unauthorized operators who avoid ministry inspections and refuse to follow orders to transfer tenants to legal facilities would be fined from NT$60,000 to NT$300,000, and fines would continue until they comply with government orders.
If an unlawful long-term care institution abandons, mistreats, discriminates, harms or restrains tenants, operators would face fines from NT$100,000 to NT$500,000.
If an illegal operator’s negligence leads to the death of a tenant, they would be fined from NT$200,000 to NT$1 million, the amendment states.
In addition to disclosing the names of institutions and operators operating illegally, the ministry could also fine them until the problems are addressed.
The amendment also requires long-term care facility operators to clearly stipulate service payments based on a tenant’s level of disability and charge them accordingly.
The service should be co-paid by tenants and the government, and the amount to be paid by the government should be stipulated by the ministry.
The amendment also bans long-term facility operators from giving discounts or reducing payments to avoid price competition.
The amendment also states that the act does not apply to facilities built by schools offering long-term care service programs, which should be used for teaching, apprenticeship and research.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs encourages businesses to develop auxiliary devices to be used in long-term care service, the amendment says.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
RSS