Emergency room visits during the Lunar New Year holiday rise about 50 percent above regular levels, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday as it encourages people to visit urgent care centers (UCCs) for mild conditions during the holiday to ease emergency room overcrowding.
The health ministry in November last year launched a UCC program for providing urgent medical care over weekends and on
holiday, aimed to bleed off emergency room overpressure.
Taipei Times
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), accompanied by Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良), National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) Director-General Chen Lian-yu (陳亮妤), and a team of local officials led by Taoyuan Deputy Mayor Wang Ming-chu (王明鉅), yesterday visited the UCC at Taoyuan’s Da-Yuan Min-Sheng Hospital to observe its operation.
Shih said emergency room visits during the Lunar New Year holiday were typically 1.5 to 1.7 times regular levels, with the majority being non-critically ill patients.
As this year’s Lunar New Year celebrations last nine days, the ministry is running a medical preparation project to improve patient diversion by triage, expand healthcare capacity, and enhance regional collaboration among healthcare facilities, he said.
Cho said that having learned from ER overcrowding from Lunar New Year last year, the ministry began planning in October last year, and 13 UCCs were set up in the nation’s six special municipalities, including four in Taoyuan, the most of the six cities.
To encourage hospitals to set up extra beds during the Lunar New Year holiday, the ministry allocated NT$1.6 billion (US$5.1 million) for a bonus plan that increases consultation fees, pharmaceutical service fees and nursing fees during the holidays, he said.
Cho said that the Executive Yuan would increase the funding if the allocated NT$1.6 billion budget is not enough.
This year is the first time the NHIA utilizes the “other sectors” budget in the National Health
Insurance global budget for expanding bonuses to healthcare providers during Lunar New Year, Chen said.
The emergency room and inpatient consultation fees, pharmaceutical service fees and nursing fees are going to be doubled during the holiday, she said.
The fees at outpatient clinics would be doubled from Feb. 16 to Feb. 19, increased by 50 percent on Feb. 20 and Feb. 21, and increased by 30 percent on Feb. 14, 15 and Feb. 22, Chen said, adding that the bonus is offered to encourage clinics to open during the holiday.
To ensure that the frontline healthcare service providers
receive the incentive bonus, the agency has stipulated that at least 80 percent of the bonus must be allocated to the relevant medical personnel, she added.
Since the UCCs began operating in early November last year, most patients sought treatment for fever, respiratory symptoms, gastrointestinal symptoms, and minor wound dressing, the NHIA said.
The UCCs have provided treatment for more than 4,800 patient visits, with cases of respiratory symptoms accounting for about 40 percent, minor wound dressing about 14 percent, and pediatric services about 5 percent, it said.
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