New regulations expanding the scope of telemedicine and the issuance of prescriptions are to take effect on July 1, which are expected to benefit millions of people, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday.
The ministry has amended the Rules of Medical Diagnosis and Treatment by Telecommunications (通訊診察治療辦法) that would add five special circumstances in which telemedicine would be allowed, as well as ease the rules on issuing prescriptions and expanding the types of healthcare services provided through telecommunications.
According to Article 11 of the Physicians Act (醫師法), physicians may not treat or issue prescriptions or a certificate of diagnosis to people they have not examined in person, Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) said. However, they may use telemedicine to treat people residing in certain areas (such as mountainous or remote areas) or under special or urgent circumstances, Hsueh added.
Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Taipei Times
As telemedicine became more widely used during the COVID-19 pandemic and is becoming a new normal for healthcare, regulations have been carefully modified to expand the special circumstances in which it might be used, he said, adding that it is expected to benefit up to 2.47 million people.
The five new special circumstances cover patients in a chronic care program, under hospice care, institutionalized at correction agencies, under disability care or under care for illness or injury from a disaster, infectious disease or other major incidents, Department of Medical Affairs Director-General Liu Yueh-ping (劉越萍).
These would bring the total number of circumstances eligible for receiving telemedicine to 10.
However, not all patients in any of the 10 circumstances are directly eligible for telemedicine, Hsueh said.
They must also be included in one of two categories: programs approved by the local health department and National Health Insurance (NHI) bundled payment programs.
“This means that when healthcare facilities want to provide telemedicine to patients under special circumstances, they must write a proposal and obtain approval” from the competent authority, he said. “It does not mean every patient who fall under any of the 10 special circumstances can directly book a telemedicine appointment with a doctor.”
Physicians who use telemedicine on patients who do not meet these qualifications may be fined between NT$20,000 and NT$100,000 for breaching the Physicians Act, Hsueh said.
The amendments would also allow physicians to issue prescriptions through telecommunication methods under certain conditions, and expand the types of healthcare services they can provide, including medical consultation, physician-to-physician consultation, psychotherapy, and issuing examination and check-up sheets, Liu said.
Asked why the draft amendments were announced last year, but it took almost a year for the ministry to announce their formal implementation, Hsueh said that some clinics expressed concern that the changes would encourage people to ditch clinics in favor of telemedicine consultation in hospitals.
However, clinics have since accepted the changes, as only clinics can provide healthcare services from the NHI bundled payment programs, such as the home-based medical integration program and the family physician care program, he added.
To prepare for the implementation of the amendments on July 1, the ministry is preparing and working on supplementary measures, including the digital NHI card system, e-prescription system, drug delivery method and information security verification standards.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS