The Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) conducted the 2014 Medical Administration and Medical Regulations Seminar (referred to as the Medical Administration Seminar below) in Zhongli, Taoyuan County, on September 25, 2014, and September 26, 2014. The personnel managing medical administration and medical regulations in the health departments of county, city, and municipal governments were invited to participate, discuss currently important medical affairs, and share their experiences to serve as policy references for the MOHW. During this seminar, Deputy Minister of the MOHW Tzou-Yien Lin represented the MOHW to award trophies in recognition of health departments with excellent evaluations in medical administration in 2013 (the winning units were the Taichung City Government Health Bureau, the Kaohsiung City Government Department of Health, the Taoyuan County Public Health Bureau, the Changhua County Public Health Bureau, the Yunlin County Public Health Bureau, the Chiayi County Health Bureau, the Hsinchu City Government Public Health Bureau, the Chiayi City Public Health Bureau, the Yilan County Public Health Bureau, the Hualien County Health Bureau, and the Penghu County Public Health Bureau) and encouraged everyone to work together for the health of the people. In addition, during the seminar, the MOHW announced its innovations and prospects for medical affairs and policy to the representatives of the municipal, county, and city government health bureaus attending the seminar. Main policy axes included proper aesthetic medicine management, reforms to medical dispute resolution, and six strategies for resolving emergency department congestion. These are detailed as follows: 


1. Proper Aesthetic Medicine Management 

To maintain the quality of aesthetic medicine and to guarantee the medical safety of the people, the MOHW has presented six key directions: (1) strengthening the management of medical advertising; (2) implementing medical fee management; (3) including aesthetic medicine in The Regulation Governing the Application of Specific Medical Examination Technique and Medical Device; (4) demanding information transparency; (5) continuing education for practitioners and quality certification for medical institutions; and (6) in surgical treatment, clearly stipulating that except in cases of clear medical need, cosmetic surgery on patients below the age of 18 is prohibited. In addition, the MOHW also indicated that if medical institutions fail to obtain quality certifications from institutions of aesthetic medicine, health departments are asked to take the responsibility for inspecting medical institutions that have failed to obtain quality certifications from institutions of aesthetic medicine but continue to practice aesthetic medicine to strengthen protection of the people’s rights. 

2. Reforms to Medical Dispute Resolution 
Currently, the legislative process for the Medical Malpractice Resolution and Compensation Act (Draft) has yet to be completed. Since the pilot of the fertility incident dispute compensation program began in 2012, related lawsuits have decreased by 70%. This program has been extremely effective. Therefore, Minister of Health and Welfare Wen-Ta Chiu has announced the official launch of the surgery and anesthesia fatality dispute pilot project on October 1. The MOHW will assemble a review panel for the medical program compensation system. This panel will integrate experience from the implementation of systems related to the pilot program described into medical malpractice compensation models within the framework of the Medical Practice Resolution and Compensation Act to facilitate the smooth implementation of the new act in the future. Health bureaus will use related projects to assist medical institutions in establishing care groups to strengthen mediation mechanisms, jointly encourage doctor-patient reconciliation, reduce the social coasts of legislation, and create win-win-win situations for hospitals, patients, and society. 

3. Six Strategies for Resolving Emergency Department Congestion 

To relieve congestion in emergency departments, the MOHW has formulated six strategies for resolving emergency department congestion. The measures cover (1) pre-hospital triage to hospitals; (2) hospital management; (3) classification and referral; (4) the health insurance system; (5) quality management; and (6) public advocacy. The MOHW hopes to resolve problems with emergency department congestion at their source and establish proper medical concepts whereby people with minor ailments go to small hospitals and those with serious illnesses go to large hospitals. 


The Public Health Bureau of Taoyuan County, which will soon become a municipality on December 25 of this year, and Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, which is located in Guishan Township, Taoyuan County, ably assisted the Medical Administration Seminar, enabling it to proceed smoothly. The MOHW expresses its heartfelt thanks and hopes that this seminar has allowed colleagues in central and local medical administration to share valuable knowledge and practical experience, bringing innovative thinking and forming greater consensus, making medical administration more sophisticated, furthering implementation, and creating greater health and welfare for the entire nation.