The Evaluation of Professional Divisions of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Taiwan through Patient Visit Records of 2012

Ta-Peng Wu, Cheng-Hung Tsai, Yu-Ting Su, Chu-Chiao Wang, Tzeng-Ji Chen, Ching-Mao Chang and Fang-Pey Chen
Additional contact information
Ta-Peng Wu: Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Section 2, Shipai Road, Beitou District, Taipei City 11217, Taiwan
Cheng-Hung Tsai: Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Section 2, Shipai Road, Beitou District, Taipei City 11217, Taiwan
Yu-Ting Su: Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Section 2, Shipai Road, Beitou District, Taipei City 11217, Taiwan
Chu-Chiao Wang: Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Section 2, Shipai Road, Beitou District, Taipei City 11217, Taiwan
Tzeng-Ji Chen: Faculty of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, No.155, Section 2, Li-Nong Street, Beitou District, Taipei City 11221, Taiwan
Ching-Mao Chang: Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Section 2, Shipai Road, Beitou District, Taipei City 11217, Taiwan
Fang-Pey Chen: Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Section 2, Shipai Road, Beitou District, Taipei City 11217, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 9, 1-13

Abstract: For decades, professional divisions have been represented as the main structural divisions in Western medicine throughout the world. In Taiwan, medical policymakers are also interested in designing professional divisions of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Therefore, this study evaluated the current status and potentiality of professional divisions of TCM in Taiwan using data from the year 2012 obtained from the National Health Insurance Research Database; the database provides information regarding age and gender of TCM physicians (TCMPs); total visit counts; contracted medical institution codes; groupings of diseases classified under International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes; numbers of children and female patients seeking treatment; and claim disposition codes used by each TCMP. The results indicated that there were 5522 TCMPs in 2012, and 4876 (90.3%) TCMPs practiced in primary clinics. The proportions of pediatric visits to these TCMPs were mostly below 0.2, and acupuncture or traumatology-related visit proportions were below 0.5. Only a few of the studied Taiwan-based TCMPs practiced gynecology and pediatrics, but most of them performed “internal medicine”, or “acupuncture” or “traumatology” treatments. Thus, the number of TCM specialists practicing gynecology or pediatrics is insufficient, indicating that a policy that forms professional divisions of TCM practitioners in Taiwan should be reconsidered.

Keywords: traditional Chinese medicine; National Health Insurance; professional divisions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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