The National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) of the Ministry of Health and Welfare attended the 2019 eASIA Awards today (the 21th) in Bangkok, Thailand and won the silver prize in the “digital transformation - public sector” group with its “Innovative Application of National Health Insurance MediCloud System” project, making Taiwan seen by the world again with its outstanding capabilities in digital health. In fact, NHIA’s “Innovative Application of National Health Insurance MediCloud System” project just won the excellence award in the open government group of the Digital Service Innovation Award organized by the Digital Transformation Association of Taiwan in 2018 and was consequently referred to compete for the 2019 eAsia Awards in Thailand.
eAsia Awards is an important event organized by the Asia Pacific Council for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (AFACT) biennially and is meant primarily to promote accomplishments among AFACT member states and economies in trade facilitation, e-commerce policies and practice, and to minimize the digital difference in the Asia Pacific Region. Currently, AFACT has 20 member states, including Australia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. A total of 11 teams entered the final match and they were from Taiwan, Thailand, Iran, and Bangladesh.
The NHIA attended the event with its “Innovative Application of National Health Insurance MediCloud System” project and was the only team proposed for medical management from the perspective of public affairs. This event saw mostly competing teams from the trade and economic and financial systems. The NHIA was able to break through in the midst of fierce competition and be recognized by the raters, and successfully entered the final match held in Bangkok, Thailand from November 20 to 21 this year, around 150 people participated in the event. Director-General Po-Chang Lee led the senior colleagues consisting of the Planning Division and the Information Technology Division of the NHIA to attend this event and sent back the encouraging news today (the 21st) of having won the Silver Prize. During this event, the NHIA also handed out the pamphlet of NHI MediCloud System and the handbook of Taiwan’s NHI in Thai, which were both highly praised by the participants. After the event, some representatives of Germany and Iran were amazed and asked for advice from Director-General Lee on how the NHIA could effectively ask physicians to upload the medical data and images for sharing purpose in healthcare cooperation. They were really impressed by the NHI system of Taiwan. This trip also achieved the goal of marketing and promoting the Taiwan’s NHI system in asian region..
The NHI system of Taiwan has been well reputed in the international society. Meanwhile, since it implemented the NHI MediCloud System in 2013, with constant innovation and advancement, the NHIA is able to make eye-catching achievements, including:
- As of September 2019, around 86.8% of healthcare professionals would use the system to inquire medical records during the hospital visits. It helps the physician to realize medical utilization of the patients and reduce repeated prescriptions, examinations and laboratory tests.
- Since introduction of NHI MediCloud system in 2013, the estimated expenditure on drugs has dropped by nearly NT$7.4 billion over nearly six years, successfully improving medication quality and ensuring safety.
- Since 2018, CT and MRT images have also been able to be uploaded and retrieved through the system, physicians can make real-time medical images inquiries and sharing across agencies. It helps save around 2.6 billion points of expenditure on laboratory tests and examinations throughout 2019.
Digital health is the mainstream in the development of medical care nowadays and Taiwan owns the huge health database that is highly valuable and is catching attention from the world. Base on the strength of skilled information and communication technology in Taiwan, the NHIA proactively developed digital healthcare and took the lead to create the NHI MediCloud System , which paved the way for developing digital healthcare by integrating health-related data horizontally and vertically among government agencies and healthcare facilities onto a single platform. With rigid information security protection, it could serve as an important reference for healthcare professionals while providing treatment and care with patients in order to enhance the quality of health care for the general public.
Through the “Innovative Application of National Health Insurance MediCloud System” project, the NHIA demonstrates again the soft power of healthcare in Taiwan that can be the role model for the world. Along with the government’s New Southbound Policy, the outstanding accomplishments of the NHI in Taiwan in digital health will become a major highlight in the exchange and collaboration among countries in the Asia Pacific Region over healthcare policies. This effectively help us expand the network of friendly nations and establish substantial partnerships with respective countries by outputting our experience in smart health to help countries in the Asia-Pacific Region develop suitable local healthcare strategies and create the medical miracle of Taiwan that is praised by the world.
The NHIA wins the Silver Prize in the “Digital transformation- public sector” group of the 2019 eAsia Awards with its “Innovative Application of National Health Insurance MediCloud System” project.
Director-General Po-Chang Lee (first from the left) along with the senior colleagues of NHIA accepts the 2019 eASIA Awards Silver Prize in Bangkok, Thailand.