In order to improve health accessibility for residents in mountainous areas and outlying islands, Mennonite Christian Hospital undertook the Zhuoxi Township Integrated Delivery System (IDS) starting in 2022. To help the residents of Zhuoxi Township receive ophthalmology health services, the program provides ophthalmology specialist services twice a month through IDS. Considering that the health needs of the Zhuoxi residents have not been completely met, telemedicine services for ophthalmology has been provided in cooperation with Zhuoxi Township Public Health Center through the NHI Telemedicine Coverage Plan, starting in August this year.
Telemedicine has become an emerging and important health service model for rural areas. Therefore, the NHIA is promoting the use of the Virtual NHI Card to provide the public with more complete, zero-contact health care.
In order to help local residents understand the use of the Virtual NHI Card, the NHIA held the Virtual NHI Card Local Training program in the community center of Zhuoxi Township, Hualien Country On November 4. Mennonite Christian Hospital and Zhuoxi Township Public Health Center were invited to work together and train local residents, opinion leaders, and medical personnel. Meanwhile, the Wanrong Township Public Health Center and neighboring Yuli Hospital also participated in the event through video conferencing. During the event, in addition to training local personnel for the Virtual NHI Card, local residents were encouraged to download the NHI APP, and apply for and bind their Virtual NHI Cards. The use of Virtual NHI Cards in telemedicine was also showcased during the event.
As of October 1, 2022, more than 320 thousand people around Taiwan have registered their Virtual NHI Cards which are applicable at 643 medical institutions, among them, 49 are in the Eastern Division. In Hualien, 33 medical institutions are providing Virtual NHI Card services. By using digital technologies and presenting the Virtual NHI Card, people can see a doctor without swiping the physical cards, allowing people to have comprehensive and zero-contact health care.
This year, the NHIA has provided the healthcare providers of home health care and telemedicine with incentives, in order to encourage medical institutions to offer health care when patients use the Virtual NHI Card. The NHIA also hopes that the public can use their Virtual NHI Cards when accepting these medical services, allowing digital medical technologies to take root in rural areas and outlying islands. The NHIA aims to make health services more convenient for residents while upgrading healthcare quality.