The National Heath Insurance Administration (NHIA) and Google yesterday announced a five-year collaborative program to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) into the risk management of chronic diseases, which is unprecedented in Taiwan and also Google’s first collaboration with a national government in the healthcare field.
At its initial stage, the program aims to develop an AI that can better predict and manage complication risks for 2 million Taiwanese with type 2 diabetes, which is one of the most common and costly chronic diseases, with the three highs — high blood pressure, high blood sugar and high cholesterol — to be tackled next.
The program is part of the government’s precision medicine strategy, to apply Google Cloud’s AI tools and Google Health’s clinical information to integrated health management.
Photo: Hsu Tzu-ling, Taipei Times
The NHIA is to adopt Google’s MedLM models on Vetex AI to train and test tailored generative AI models, with the aim of identifying complication risks for patients with type 2 diabetes several years earlier, said Amy McDonough, managing director and general manager of Fitbit Health Solutions at Google.
These tailored AI models are expected to help the NHIA refer patients with type 2 diabetes to medical facilities for early intervention and, combined with wearable devices connected to digital medical solutions, assist doctors in understanding their daily life, thus enhancing healthcare management outcomes, McDonough said.
NHIA Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said that the collaboration has three goals.
The National Health Research Institutes is to capitalize on Google Cloud’s tools to optimize AI-powered models for predicting chronic disease risks, Shih said.
The calculated results would be provided to medical facilities to monitor patients and build individualized treatment plans, as well as for patients to understand their condition, he said.
The use of AI-powered models would then help implement a hierarchy of medical care by distinguishing between high and low-risk patients, and determining the extent of required medical intervention, he added.
Personal data of patients would be anonymized and turned into secondary data by the NHIA prior to cloud processing and storage at Google’s data center in Changhua County to ensure the highest degree of protection, Shih said.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
RSS