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.
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