• Service beliefs and aims
• Focal points in 2007
• Future targets of NHIED
• Your comments are always welcome
• NHIED mascot: Killer Whale

Public Service White Paper
National Health Insurance, Healthcare for Citizens
Bureau of National Health Insurance

This Public Service White Paper marks our devotion to all the insured of the Eastern Division ,Bureau of National Health Insurance (NHIED). The NHIED shall do its best to provide sincere, convenient and efficient services to all citizens living in eastern Taiwan. The current targets of the NHIED are “to show concern for the underprivileged and care for the public”.  By setting “sustainable quality” as our unchanging goal, we are devoted to continual quality improvement. We will treat you as our most prestigious “customer” and we are proud to serve you.

Besides the general public, the NHIED provides services to the businesses, agencies, organizations, schools, occupational unions etc through which citizens subscribe to the NHI, and medical institutions which provide the medical services in the NHI framework.

• Underwriting affairs
  Spontaneous guidance for NHI coverage and assistance for solving problems of citizens and group insurance applicants are provided according to the four main targets: e-service, efficiency, service diversification and concern for the underprivileged.
  
• e-Service
  e-Service is promoted to other organizations and agencies with spontaneous services.

1. Full implementation of the NHI IC card and the NHI IC card renewal audit.
2. Promotion of the multidimensional e-service channels

• Provision of special services
  To expand the scope of services for Taitung citizens, we have established the Taitung Liaison Office and enhanced service functions to facilitate Taitung citizens to subscribe to various NHI services.
  
  
• Reinforcement of various web services
  We promote the online enrollment and withdrawal services, online application for reprinting premium calculation details, online group insurance applicant code enquiry, and online application for reprinting NHI premium bills.
  
  
• Efficiency
  Promoting multidimensional underwriting report methods
  To facilitate group insurance applicants to report the underwriting data, we have planned multidimensional e-services by promoting media, web and OCR report methods in order to enhance data transfer and processing efficiency.
  
  
• Establishing beneficial interactions with society to promote 2-way communication
  To reinforce information communication for information sharing and exchange and for promoting 2-way communication and various services, we have organized seminars on various NHIED services with group insurance applicants in our jurisdiction; posted the latest news on the NHIED website, published such news in the NHIED News and sent out press releases at appropriate times; held press conferences; and set up a comment box on the website in order to establish and promote beneficial interactions with society.
  
  
• Service diversification
  Combining social resources to promote diversified NHI services
  To solve the problem of extensive jurisdiction, to make effective use of social resources, and to reinforce the unification of social, political and charity groups, we have organized various community service education activities.
• Providing special services to enhance coverage rate of indigenous people

1. We make spontaneous contacts with elementary and high schools in aboriginal settlements to ask for lists of students who have not yet subscribed to the NHI in order to provide guidance for these students to subscribe to the NHI.
2. To implement various coverage promotional policies according to the Integrated Delivery System (IDS).

• Concern for the underprivileged
  To help marginal households which cannot afford the NHI premium but are unqualified for low-income family insurance and citizens who cannot afford the NHI premium for temporary financial problems to apply for the payment by installment and NHI Relief Fund Loans, we have

1. introduced the Love Aid policy to provide citizens who need emergency medical attention or who cannot afford the premium with financial aid for the premium of the installment under a special fund;
2. hosted the NHI Concern Interchange by combining the power of charity groups and kindhearted people to fund the NHI premium of poor families and by establishing communication between the givers and the takers in order to send love to the needy at appropriate times; and
3. coordinated with the township/town/city offices to help citizens solve the NHI debt problem by helping them to apply for payment by installment and the NHI Relief Fund Loans.

• Medical institution management 
  Transparent approaches have been adopted to enhance the self-management capacity of medical institutions. These include the establishment of various healthcare quality indicators,  collaborative management with the medical sector, elimination of the waste of medical resources, continual provision of medical services to remote areas, and enhancement of proximate medical services.
  
  
• The following plans are aggressively promoted to enhance medical and healthcare quality

1. Promotion and implementation of the pilot project for various medical claim improvement plans.
2. Promotion of the pilot project for the family doctor integrated healthcare system.
3. Promotion of the media or online report of medical claims for contract medical institutions.
4. Establishment of various medical and healthcare service indicators.
5. Enhancement of the preventive NHI physical checkup report rate.
6. Promotion and periodic review of the IDS.

• Thefollowing policies are reinforced to cope with the implementation of the global budget system (GBS), to enhance the self-management capacity of medical institutions, and to establish collaborative management with the medical sector:

1. to spontaneously provide the data of various medical and healthcare service indicators as a reference for medical institutions and groups;
2. to provide the statistics of various medical expenditure reported on the NHIED website for the public to search; and
3. to actively participate in various GBS conferences within the jurisdiction in order to exchange opinions and develop a better understanding at appropriate times.

• The following actions are taken to make effective use of medical resources and so to eliminate the waste of medical resources:

1. guidance and site visit of beneficiaries of high medical resource uses;
2. protection of the rights and benefits of citizens seeking medical services;
3. investigation and audit of medical institutions with alleged violations; and
4. reinforced education for the correct use of medical services and repeat prescription cards for chronic illnesses.

• Convenient services for citizens

1. Customer-focused on-site services
2. Telephone services for residents of remote areas
3. One-stop service window
4. Quick operation counter for special services
5. Drive-thru services
6. Volunteer worker services
7. e-Services
8. NHI IC Card replacement, renewal and enquiry services

No matter if you are a citizen, a group insurance applicant or a medical institution, please feel free to express your discontent and comments on the NHIED through the following channels. If you have any recommendations or new ideas for reforming the NHI, you are always welcome to send them to us, so that we can make progress and improvement in the future.

• Address: 36 Suanyuan Road, Hualien City
• Enquiries: 03-8332111
• Fax: 03-8332011
• Email: nhi@mail.NHIED.gov.tw

• Killer Whale
  Alias: Reverse Halberd Whale, Giant Tiger Whale, Grampus, Killer Whale etc. Fishermen in Taiwan call it the black and white killer.
  
  
• Why?
  It is the whale watching season in eastern Taiwan at the most mysterious spot on the coast, . This black and white creature preferring a social life with a strong family sense and a stable group structure is the most suitable animal to represent the NHI team. Though it is huge it is still lively. This represents the team cooperation of all NHI colleagues who make the most flexible and most appropriate use of all resources. As it realizes the localization, innovation, service and efficiency beliefs of the NHIED, the killer whale is chosen as the mascot.
  
• About the Killer Whale
  The Killer Whale, or Orca, is the largest species of the oceanic dolphin family (Delphinidae). Its unique dull black, snow white and grey patterns and gigantic dorsal fin make it easy to be identified. A newborn orca weighs about 180kg and an adult orca about 2.6-2.9 metric tons (length of a newborn orca is about 2.1-2.5m and adult orca 5.5-9.8m). The gender of orcas is easily identified because a male orca is often three times bigger than a female orca.
  In social life, orcas can get along with one another easily and often form pods in the sea 1km long, each with male, female and baby orcas. They form themselves in a very stable social group of about 1-50 orcas based around the matriline consisting of a single female (the matriarch) and her descendents. A group of orcas can contain up to 30 mstrilines, i.e. about 260 orcas. Every matriline has its own rules and combines to other matrilines, though not all matrilines will group with other matrilines, and only matrilines living in the same “pod” will get along together, and matrilines from different pods will not get along.
  The orca is a sociable mammal with a strong family sense and a very stable social structure, and an individual orca can live in the same group for life. In language, every matriline has its own “language” to allow members to maintain stability for many years. The dialects of all matrilines within the same cluster are very similar, but it is rare for different clusters to use a “common language”. In behavior, the orca is easy to approach and is very curious. They love tail-slapping, breaching and spy-hopping. They can swim as fast as 55kmph. When the air is cool, we can often see its spume like a short tree.
  Excerpt from the Giant and Wizard at Sea http://www.whale.org.tw/