Taiwan and Vietnam share experiences of health insurance system

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Taiwan has been playing an active role in participating global health. Dr. Po-Chang Lee, Director General of Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Administration, who attended APEC Health Working Group (HWG)  last year, said his talk on Taiwan’s National Health Insurance and new MediCloud technology received very positive responses from 20 APEC and other economies. 

Otherwise, during the 72nd WHA held in May this year, Taiwan’s presentation on NHI MediCloud, health records and imaging exchange among hospitals caught the attention from the US delegation the most.

To cope with the government’s New Southbound Policy, and taking into consideration of the growing interests of Vietnamese health industry in Taiwan’s National Health Insurance (NHI) system and the experience of establishing medical information system. Dr. Shu-Ling Tsai, Deputy Director-General of Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA), lead senior colleagues to organize 

The “Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Workshop” took place on June 17th in Hanoi, under the chair of Dr. Shu-Ling Tsai, Deputy Director-General of Taiwan’s NHIA. 

Under the support of Taiwan’s government representative in Vietnam, Ambassador Richard R.C. Shih, delegates from the National Health Insurance Administration shared the experiences of running the National Health Insurance program and establishing the MediCloud system, which successfully demonstrated Taiwan’s soft power in healthcare field to the audience and created a new milestone for the exchange and sharing of health care achievements between Taiwan and Vietnam. 

Along with the vibrant economic growth in Vietnam, as of 2014, Vietnam’s total health expenditures in GDP reached 7%, which outraced many ASEAN countries. Data have shown the Vietnamese government began to invest in the healthcare sector. 

The abovementioned workshop was chaired by Dr. Shu-Ling Tsai, Deputy Director-General of Taiwan’s NHIA and joined by senior staff from the Planning Division, the Information System Division, Pharmaceutical and Medical Reviews Division, Distinguished Professor Hung-Yi Chiou, Director of Health and Clinical Research Data Center, Taipei Medical University, totaling 13 people. The Topic of this workshop included Taiwan’s NHI System, NHI MediCloud System, and Health Information Technology Applied in the Hospital, and etc.  

In addition, delegates from Vietnam Health Ministry also shared their experience in implementing the Vietnamese health insurance system. Representatives from the public sector, hospitals, and universities brought forth their experience and perspectives, exchanging ideas vividly with all of the participants.

The seminar was attended by nearly 50 representatives from Vietnamese government agencies and medical departments. Health Insurance is a hot issue in Vietnam. The Ministry of Health of Vietnam aims to establish a personal electronic health record warehouse by 2025. 

Vietnam’s government hope to learn from Taiwan’s experiences and keep contact with Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Administration to cooperate on information management such as information system construction, electronic medical management, electronic medical claims review, in order to develop a system suitable for the current state of the Vietnamese economy.

Director General Po-Chang Lee said, the first- ever NHI workshop held in Vietnam has promoted effectively a deeper understanding of NHI and medical information system among officials, scholars, and experts from the health fields of Taiwan and Vietnam. Taiwan has demonstrated its soft power in health care, enlarged the possibilities of cooperating with New Southbound countries and looked forward to working together for the health and wellbeing of the people in Vietnam and Taiwan.