The National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) plans to expand its in-home acute care program next year, including coverage for hospice patients, agency head Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said on Saturday.
The program is to begin offering services to hospice patients in the first quarter of next year, with plans to expand the program in the latter half of the year to include people with heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Shih said.
The program is available to people who have brief but severe episodes of illnesses, such as urinary tract infections, pneumonia and soft tissue infections, he said, adding that many patients were senior citizens.
Photo: Lin Chih-yi, Taipei Times
Since the program began in July, about 260 patients have participated, with about 90 percent of them experiencing symptom improvements without requiring hospital admission, Shih said in September.
The NHIA’s in-home acute care program is part of a broader effort by the government to streamline medical services as it deals with a rapidly aging population.
Government data from 2022 showed that Taiwanese aged 65 and older comprised 17.3 percent of the population, but accounted for 41.57 percent of medical expenditure.
Taiwan is on track to become a “super-aged society” — one in which 20 percent of the population is aged 65 or older — from next year.
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
STAY VIGILANT: When experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, such as dizziness or fatigue, near a water heater, open windows and doors to ventilate the area Rooftop flue water heaters should only be installed outdoors or in properly ventilated areas to prevent toxic gas from building up, the Yilan County Fire Department said, after a man in Taipei died of carbon monoxide poisoning on Monday last week. The 39-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), an assistant professor at Providence University in Taichung, was at his Taipei home for the holidays when the incident occurred, news reports said. He was taking a shower in the bathroom of a rooftop addition when carbon monoxide — a poisonous byproduct of combustion — leaked from a water heater installed in a poorly ventilated
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