Reviewing the Relaxation of Gene Sequencing Cancer Definitions: Accelerating Drug Review via Electronic Health Records FHIR
陳亮妤：研擬放寬基因定序癌別| 聯合新聞網 - LINE TODAY
Summary
Taiwan's National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) is working to improve cancer treatment by expanding coverage for Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) and streamlining drug pre-approval using electronic health record systems in FHIR format. This aims to accelerate access from diagnosis to appropriate therapy.
Details
According to Chen Liang-yu, Director of the NHIA, the government is focusing on improving access to new cancer drugs. She highlighted significant disparities in treatment outcomes, particularly for lung cancer. To address this, the NHIA plans to expand the types of cancers covered by NGS. Furthermore, to speed up drug usage processes, the NHIA is promoting the adoption of electronic health records (EHR) using FHIR format for pre-approval reviews. This is expected to reduce the review time from 2–3 weeks via paper documents to just half a day. The NHIA introduced partial coverage for NGS in 2024, assisting physicians with precise drug use. Currently, it provides NGS testing for 12 types of cancer and also offers single-gene testing for 7 other types. These efforts are expected to significantly improve the quality and accessibility of cancer care in Taiwan. NHIA also published a comparison of cancer treatment outcomes across hospitals, noting large differences (e.g., up to 41.8% difference in 5-year survival rates for lung cancer). This data underscores the need for improvements and standardization within the medical provision system.
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