The healthcare system is to analyze patient records and family histories using artificial intelligence (AI) to estimate the risk of developing diabetes or hyperlipidemia and improve early diagnoses, National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said in an interview published yesterday.
The government has launched the Home-based Acute Care Program within two months after the inauguration of President William Lai’s (賴清德), in line with his “Healthy Taiwan” policy.
The NHIA has collaborated with Google to use AI to analyze healthcare big data, such as physical examinations, patient records and family histories, Shih said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times).
Photo: Chang Chia-juei, Taipei Times
It would help grade the risks of different chronic diseases and predict morbidity rates of stroke or myocardial infarction in the following three to five years, he said.
The “Healthy Taiwan” policy also provides “hospitalization at home” for patients with acute infections, which Lai said would mark a milestone in Taiwan’s history of medicine, Shih said.
Home-based medical services would be used to focus on critical care cases, of which 25 to 30 percent would require hospitalization due to acute infections, Shih said, adding that elderly people living in long-term care facilities are facing similar situations.
The program is to respond to the needs of patients with acute conditions starting from this month, which has long been missing in home care and facility care, he said.
For example, nurses and doctors could visit patients at home or the facility to administer antibiotics when they have pneumonia or infections in their urinary tract or soft tissue, Shih said.
That would reduce the cross infection risk in hospitals and free up beds for other patients in need, thereby avoiding a medical system collapse due to epidemics, he said.
Shih also said the new version of the Rules of Medical Diagnosis and Treatment by Telecommunications (通訊診察治療辦法), which has been implemented from this month, would facilitate home-based acute care, as they have loosened restrictions on applicable users and prescriptions.
Patients’ vital signs could be transmitted to medical facilities via technologies such as wearable devices and smart mattresses for 24/7 monitoring, even though medical practitioners cannot provide bedside services at home, he said, adding that telemedical diagnosis performed by doctors and home visits by nurses would ensure satisfactory services for patients.
In addition to acute care, chronic care has been reinforced as well to include the 5.4 million patients with chronic diseases in Taiwan.
Eighty percent of people aged 65 or older in Taiwan have at least one chronic disease, with diabetes, chronic kidney disease, ischemic heart disease and stroke collectively accounting for about 20 percent, the largest proportion, Shih said, adding that what these chronic diseases have in common are “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids and high blood sugar.
The government has initiated the “888 project” to include at least 80 percent of people with three highs in the project, while providing them with consultations on their life habits and controlling 80 percent of their three high conditions, he said.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
China has reserved offshore airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts that are usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Sunday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. The alerts, known as notice to air missions (NOTAMs), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert
RSS