After 23 years of implementation, the NHI has accumulated a huge volume of health data.  It provides a foundation for the future development of AI in the NHI.  In order to be ahead of the game in health technology development, the NHIA organized a seminar on June 1, inviting representatives of the industry, the government and the academia to discuss how to develop from the cloud technology to AI in the NHI.

The seminar was opened by Dr Chen Shih-Chung (the Minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare), Dr Chen Liang-Gee (the Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology) and Dr Chiou Jiunn-Rong (the Vice Chairman of the National Development Council).  The seminar attracted over 150 attendees, including delegates from Google, Microsoft Taiwan, IBM, ASUS, Hon Hai Precision, NTUH, VGH Taichung, etc. This is the largest AI seminar organized by the government in the recent years. 

The agenda covered three topics: 1. the opportunities for NHI, healthcare and AI; 2. the cloud-based NHI data and AI; and 3. the challenges and prospects of the application of AI in healthcare.   The discussion focused on how to develop AI and precision medicine based on the existing foundation of big data and cloud-based healthcare so as to improve the healthcare quality in Taiwan.  

Dr Lee Po-Chang, the Director General of the NHI, pointed out that the application of AI is now an international trend.  The NHIA is in an advantageous position because it has accumulated a huge volume of health data over the past two decades.  By linking the data with precision medicine, it may overhaul the current healthcare model and usher in a new era.

Du Yi Jin, the president of Taiwan AI Labs, was invited to be the keynote speaker.  He expressed that Taiwan is in the leading group of countries with advanced health technology.  The NHI databank will be of Taiwan’s advantage.  The NHIA has been promoting the cloud-based health record and encouraging hospitals to upload treatment records and medical images to the databank.  Using AI to exploit and analyze the data will further increase the possibility of its applications.  

Danny Ting, the National Tech Officer of Microsoft Taiwan, expressed that using AI to help deliver precision medicine and smart healthcare is the only solution to the problems of a global ageing society and the consequent health and care issues. Microsoft has developed a system “InnerEye”, which can identify the location of tumours and help doctors to provide the most efficient treatments.

Regarding patient’s privacy issue, Prof. Wang Da-Wei, Research Fellow of the Institute of Information Science of Academia Sinica, expressed that the privacy issue is not just about de-identification process.  The government should carefully consider how to justify the de-identification for the use of AI technology.

Dr Lee Po-Chang expressed that the NHIA, in respond to the government’s policy of promoting the application of big data, is working toward increasing the public’s access to the NHI databank for value-added applications while protecting patient’s privacy.  The NHIA plays a critical role in encouraging the applications of AI and smart healthcare, as well as the development of relevant industries.

【2018-05-30/NHIA】