Facilitating Partnership in Digital Healthcare: Areas and Models of Collaboration between Taiwan and Japan, the US, South Korea, Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, and ThailandPublished Date: 2023-08-09
Publication：2020.12
Principal Investigator：余佩儒Yu, Pei-Ju
Researchers：洪尉淳Hong, Wei-Chun、李淳Lee, Roy Chun、顏慧欣Yen, Huai-Shing
The study began with an analysis on the current
development of digital healthcare sector in Taiwan from the perspective of
different stakeholders and industry players, followed by an investigation on
digital healthcare priorities for both the public and private sectors in seven
APEC economies, which include the US, Japan, South Korea and four target
countries in Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy—Malaysia, Thailand, New Zealand,
and Australia. The study aims to identify the key areas and development models
for digital healthcare in Taiwan and APEC economies. The findings indicate the
following: 1) the US boasts a more advanced digital health system and
regulatory framework, which could serve as a model for APEC economies; 2) the
Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the development of telehealth in APEC
economies; 3) Taiwan has competitive advantages in several AI-enabled
data/medical imaging applications; 4) Japan, Thailand, and Malaysia have
implemented different levels of robot solutions in digital healthcare; and 5) a
regional pattern, characterized by integration of existing online consultation
platforms, has been observed across the New Southbound countries, a result
driven by the pandemic.
Based on the analysis results, the study developed the
following policy recommendations for Taiwan's digital healthcare sector: 1)
consider Covid-19 related digital technological solutions as key focus of
Taiwan's proposals in the APEC Digital Health Sub-Working Group in 2020 and 2021;
2) investigate the current digital health/medical regulations and development
status across APEC economies, using the US regulatory framework as benchmark;
3) share Taiwan's emerging technologies (AI digital/medical imaging
applications, robotics) in digital healthcare at PPSTI meetings; and 4)
Taiwan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare, with its the "One Country, One
Center" project, could work with the Ministry of Economic Affairs to
encourage "born global" telehealth companies/startups to launch Joint
Pilot programs overseas.
