ABSTRACT
Taiwan is an island nation in East Asia with a population of 23 million, of which 11.5" are aged over 65 years. Taiwan provides universal healthcare coverage, with guaranteed equal access to healthcare services. The National Health Insurance system, first established in 1995 and operated by the National Health Insurance Administration, uses a single-payer system and covers 99.9" of the Taiwanese population. In 2001, the Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare's National Health Insurance Administration (NHI), began the process of replacing paper-based patient identification (ID) cards with smart cards in order to increase efficiency, reduce fraud and decrease health system costs. Taiwan's PharmaCloud System was developed to help reduce over-medication and improve medication safety. The PharmaCloud has greatly improved primary care, giving doctors a more prominent role in primary healthcare. While the Taiwanese public can freely select their primary healthcare provider, the system lacks an effective referral mechanism.
