January 22, 2014
Workshop on Health Technology Assessment Policy Formation and Implementation—Second Generation National Health Insurance Reform in Taiwan
Front row: Lou Garrison (UW), Weng-Foung Huang (Yang-Ming), Bong-min Yang (South Korea), Francis Ruiz (UK), Jennifer Whitty (Australia); Back row: Jerry Chung-Lin Yang (Yang-Ming) Mao-Ting Sheen (BHNI), Chuan-Feng Wu (Academia Sinica), John Chi-Feng Hsieh (Yang-Ming)
Lou Garrison in Taiwan as part of the Workshop on Health Technology Assessment Policy Formation and Implementation. Taiwan is in the midst of its “second generation” national health reform, having made a revolutionary shift to a single-payer system in 1995. Despite spending only about 6.2% of GDP on health care, like all other health care systems, Taiwan is grappling with how to control costs and provide effective health care. The reforms are considering a re-orientation of the role of health technology assessment (HTA).
On July 5-6, 2011, Lou Garrison, PhD, Co-Director of the Global Medicines Program participated in a workshop on Health Technology Assessment Policy Formation and Implementation at the National Yang-Ming University Performance Center. The workshop was held in Taipei. The event was sponsored by the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration and was organized by the Research Center of Health and Welfare Policy of the National Yang-Ming University. The government’s Center for Drug Evaluation was co-sponsored of the meeting. Former head of the Taiwanese, Professor Weng-Foung Huang of Yang-Ming led the meeting.
Lou’s presentation on the first day “An Introduction to Health Technology Assessment in the U.S. and Canada: Possible Lessons and Implications for Taiwan?” contributed to the overall agenda of the workshop and can be found here (will link to presentation). The second day consisted of two interactive panel discussions with Lou and other experts from South Korea, the UK, and Australia. The audience for the first panel included key private and public stakeholders. The second panel included the leaders and key staff from the Bureau of National Health Insurance.
