Cancer Drug Review in National Health Insurance to Be Greatly Shortened by FHIR Adoption: From Application to 1 Day, Fastest Access within 2 Weeks
健保新制癌药审查1天搞定最快1周就能拿- 生活- 中国时报 - 中時新聞網
Summary
The Director of the National Health Insurance announced at a 'Digital Governance for Cancer Treatment' seminar that using FHIR format for pre-screening cancer drugs can significantly shorten the process, reducing the typical 1–2 week wait time to as little as one day. This is expected to allow patients faster access to necessary medications.
Details
In Taiwan’s National Health Insurance (NHI) system, the pre-screening process for expensive and rapidly evolving cancer drugs has undergone significant digitalization, promising major efficiency improvements. Previously, obtaining prior approval for drug coverage could take 1–2 weeks. The 'Digital Governance for Cancer Treatment' seminar showcased a system utilizing FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) format for applications. According to the NHI Director, 69 hospitals are adopting FHIR for these applications, with 18 currently in use. Clinicians noted that previous processes required logging into multiple systems and using VPNs, which was time-consuming. However, by introducing FHIR, system integration is centralized, drastically reducing review times. For instance, at the Chang Gung system, a process previously requiring complex steps and time-consuming procedures became manageable from any in-hospital PC, automatically linking with NHI data. This technological advancement addresses not only 'digitalization' but also critical medical issues of 'transparency' and 'early patient access.' This case is highlighted as an international standard (FHIR) adoption example within Taiwan’s healthcare IT, demonstrating how interoperability standards can solve real-world clinical bottlenecks.
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