Perceived Impact of Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Allocation Strategy: Health Professionals’ Perspective

Patrick Opiyo Owili, Miriam Adoyo Muga, Ya-Ting Yang and Yi-Hsin Elsa Hsu
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Patrick Opiyo Owili: Department of Public Health, School of Health Sciences, University of Eastern Africa, Baraton, 30100 Eldoret, Kenya
Miriam Adoyo Muga: Department of Foods, Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Science and Technology, University of Eastern Africa, Baraton, 30100 Eldoret, Kenya
Ya-Ting Yang: Center of General Education, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan
Yi-Hsin Elsa Hsu: School of Health Care Administration, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 3, 1-12

Abstract: Studies on health care demand have indicated high levels of public satisfaction with Taiwan’s National Health Insurance (NHI). However, the global budget allocation mechanism (GBAM) used by NHI has led to various adjustments in the providers’ way of practice, quality of care, utilization of care, and health expenditure. Studies focusing on the satisfaction of providers with health care supply, however, remain limited. We therefore explored the provider’s perceived impact of the NHI allocation plan. A cross-sectional data of 299 health professionals was collected at Taipei Medical University Hospitals in April 2012. Perceptions and attitudes were assessed using a validated 5-point Likert-type questionnaire before using a structural equation modeling technique to explore the complex interrelationships of the NHI’s perceived impact. The causal path relationships between the latent variables ‘characteristics of NHI’s allocation plan’ and ‘perceived positive effect’ ( β = 0.39), ‘perceived positive effect’ and ‘satisfaction of health professionals’ ( β = 0.53), and between ‘characteristics of NHI’s allocation plan’ and ‘satisfaction of health professionals’ ( β = 0.30) were positively associated; while the path relationships between the latent variables ‘perceived negative effect’ and ‘satisfaction of health professionals’ ( β = −0.27) and ‘characteristics of NHI’s allocation plan’ and ‘attitude toward allocation criteria’ ( β = −0.22) were negatively associated. These results indicate that providers perceived a positive impact of the NHI allocation strategy. The NHI allocation plan is an important decision-making tool among policy makers since it helps optimize outcomes. Research based on its impact at both horizontal and vertical levels on the supply side may be useful towards understanding Taiwan’s GBAM. Policy-makers should therefore consider understanding the impact of GBAM at both the demand and supply side in adjusting allocation criteria.

Keywords: health insurance; resource allocation; global budget; health professionals; perceptions and attitudes; structural equation modeling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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