This pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of the NHI system in Taiwan.  Dr Lee Po-Chang, the Director General of the NHIA, pointed out that the NHIA is a social insurance provider; and as a non-profit organization, the NHIA has to spend money wisely.  The NHIA needs to apply technology to containing the waste of resources.  The impact from COVID 19 has made the NHIA realize that the NHIA can use the national health big data to facilitate the digital transformation in healthcare.

Dr Lee expressed that the NHIA is holding a huge set of health data of the nation, and has used it to create the NHI MediCloud system, which collects medication records and test results (e.g., CT, MRI) from healthcare providers.  The information helps doctors to check whether patients are wasting the healthcare resources.  The NHI also launched the Health Passbook APP to keep patients’ healthcare records.   During the first outbreak of the pandemic, the NHIA worked with telecommunication providers and created an APP, which allows the public to pre-order face masks by using their mobile phone SIM card for identity identification. 

Also, as the population is ageing, the NHIA is trying to tackle this challenge by using big data in preventive medicine, for example, to predict the health trends.  Yet, the NHIA has not forgotten their obligation to safeguard the insured’s privacy embedded in the data. 

The cloud-based system created by the NHIA is subject to strict regulations in the aspects of management, technology and ethics.  The system passed the ISO/IEC 27001 certification in 2004.  The NHIA has been upgrading the data security measures to prevent it from cyber-attacks.   The NHIA prefers to work with domestic IT providers not only to support the innovators in Taiwan, but also to tighten data security. 

Dr Lee continued that the NHIA, as the holder of the nation’s biggest health data, cannot shy away from the responsibility of applying digital technology to combating the pandemic.   For example, the NHIA enhanced the NHI MediCloud System by integrating it with the public’s travel history, occupation, contact and cluster history (TOCC) so as to help the government contain the spread of the disease.  The NHIA will continue work with the IT industry and the academic to improve the nation’s healthcare and welfare.

【2021-03-22 / Economic Daily】