The BNHI announced on April 23th the launch of the "2012 NHI Inpatient Nursing Quality Improvement Program," doubling the budget from last year's NT$ 1 billion to NT$ 2 billion this year in order to improve inpatient nursing quality. (Expenses in this area from 2009 to 2012 have reached almost NT$ 4.7 billion.) This program is to encourage hospitals to recruit more nurses while offering incentives, such as increasing night-shift and over-time pay, in order to increase retention, which in turn can elevate the quality of care for inpatients.
The budget for the "2012 NHI Inpatient Nursing Quality Improvement Program" would be allocated in the following three areas, 1) NT$750 million for new nurse recruitment subsidies, 2) NT$120 million for meeting or excelling in monthly hospital evaluations with respect to staff standards, and 3) NT$50 million for hospitals with a high care quality index.
The program offers financial incentives in various areas, encouraging hospitals to meet the following goals. First, expanding recruitment of nurses by awarding subsidies. Area hospitals or hospitals on outlaying islands would be subsidized NT$ 360,000 a year for every nurse it employs in addition to the total number of nurses it had by the end of 2012. The rest of the hospitals would be reimbursed a maximum of 250,000 points per year for every additional nurse it hires. An expected 2,000 to 3,000 nurses would join the total nursing force under the program. Second, meeting or excelling in monthly hospital evaluations with respect to staff standards. Hospitals meeting the staff standards evaluation would be given an additional 6% of its monthly inpatient nursing subsidy. Hospitals with a staff evaluation 5% above the standard would be given an additional 7% of its monthly inpatient nursing subsidy. And hospitals with a staff evaluation 10% above the standard would be given an additional 9% of its monthly inpatient nursing subsidy. Third, increasing care quality. A care quality index would be established using the statistics gathered from the biannual reports filled out by hospitals regarding the number of falls and nosocomial infections. Hospitals would be given NT$50,000 each time as an incentive to better manage hospital care quality.
Subsidies and financial incentives shall only be used to expand nurse employment and raise night-shift and over-time pay to increase retention. Moreover, details of hospital subsidy allocation shall be reported to the BNHI every six months. The BNHI would perform an evaluation every six months to assess the results of the program.
Statistics from 2011 show that an additional 2,441 registered nurses were employed by NHI-contracted hospitals and clinics compared to 2010. Disregarding the number of nurses hired at newly established hospitals and clinics and nurses hired due to additional hospital beds, the total increase of newly recruited nurses is 1,709 (up by 1.92%). Medical centers saw an addition of 674 people (up by 2.16%), regional hospitals saw an increase of 769 people (up by 2.01%), area hospitals experienced an addition of 229 people (up by 1.29%), and psychiatric departments increased by 37 people (up by 1.80%).The statistics from hospital subsidy registries show that the largest expense is employee financial incentives, a total of NT$770 million, accounting for 41.6%. NT$420 million, 22.7%, is used to raise the salary of nursing staff. NT$400 million, 21.8%, is used for expanding the nursing force. NT$85 million, 4.5%, is used to increase night-shift payment. NT$173 million, 9.4%, went into other items. The budget came from two sources: NT$1 billion from NHI subsidy fund and NT$848 million from hospital coordination fund. For this year’s subsidized hospitals and nursing staff assessment, please visit the BNHI website ([Link] )＞NHI Disclosure of Information＞NHI Statistics＞Medical Affairs Management＞NHI Inpatient Nursing Quality Improvement Program subsidized hospitals and nursing staff assessment).