| Summary: | 碩士 === 中臺科技大學 === 醫療暨健康產業管理系碩士班 === 102 === Chinese medicine healthcare services have been included in the National Health Insurance (NHI) since its implementation. The inclusion of non-mainstream healthcare services in insurance benefits is rarely seen in the world. Chinese medicine healthcare is known to have mild action, fewer side effects, and health preservation concept. Therefore, many people have a special preference for Chinese medicine healthcare. In order to gain an insight into Chinese medicine applied in disease-based healthcare services, this study chose the most professional Chinese medicine practitioners as research subjects in order to analyze the utilization of Chinese medicine healthcare services. Research results will help one understand the optimum role of Chinese medicine in NHI healthcare.
The basic information of medical personnel in the “NHI Research Database” of the National Health Research Institutes, outpatient prescriptions, and treatment specifications were adopted for secondary data analysis. The Chinese medicine practitioners with medical records from 2007 to 2011 were adopted as research participants. After excluding 152 practitioners without outpatient prescriptions and treatment specifications, and 55,449 outpatient clinics that took place before they became practitioners, a total of 25,946 entries were obtained through “claims by patient”. The t-test, ANOVA, and generalized estimating equations were used for statistical analysis.
Among the Chinese medicine practitioners, those under the age group of 25 years old~34 years old had the highest frequency of Chinese medicine outpatient utilization, reaching 3.39 times per year, with females outnumbering males. The Chinese medicine practitioners’ Chinese medicine outpatient utilization situation for different illness types, ranked in order, include: signs, symptoms, and ill-defined pathological types (19.9%), respiratory system diseases (18.8%), and musculoskeletal system and connective tissue diseases (16.1%), which are conditions more commonly treated through Chinese medicine. Common diseases in Chinese medicine practitioners’ Chinese medicine outpatient utilization are mainly acute nasopharyngitis (common cold), cough, and headaches. Hence, most Chinese medicine practitioners’ utilize Chinese medicine outpatient healthcare services for diseases with milder symptoms. The factors affecting Chinese medicine practitioners’ Chinese medicine outpatient utilization include: gender, age, number of western medicine physicians in the township of practice, western medicine doctors’ outpatient utilization, and whether chronic disease exists. In particular, the higher the number of females and western medicine physicians in the township of practice, the higher the western medicine outpatient utilization frequency, and the younger the age group, the higher the Chinese medicine outpatient utilization and costs that arise.
In Taiwan, Chinese medicine practitioners’ average Chinese medicine outpatient clinics are about 2.63 times, and the average annual Chinese medicine outpatient costs amount to NTD1,377.92. In particular, the frequency of Chinese medicine healthcare service outpatient utilization and costs are higher than those of the general public. Chinese medicine practitioners’ age, gender, health condition, area of practice, and other healthcare resources significantly affect the frequency of Chinese medicine healthcare utilization and costs. In addition, diseases such as mental system and sense organ diseases, respiratory system diseases, digestive disease, urogenital system diseases, skin and cutaneous tissue diseases, musculoskeletal system and connective tissue diseases, signs, symptoms, various types of ill-defined pathological diseases, injuries, and poisoning are all important factors affecting Chinese medicine practitioners’ selection of Chinese medicine outpatient healthcare utilization. In the future, themes such as Chinese medicine practitioner groups in trauma, acupuncture, and other self-paid items can be further explored to clarify relevant factors affecting Chinese medicine outpatient utilization.
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