Taipei, Nov. 4 (CNA) The nation’s top economic planner said Friday that it hopes that all health care institutions will use electronic medical records within five years.

The Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) reported that 95 percent of public and private hospitals and 56 percent of clinics use e-medical records at present.

A council official said that the government will work with the private sector to realize the goal of “instituting e-medical records, digitalization of images and examination reports, and the capacity to exchange medical images between hospitals within five years. ”

The CEPD said that to upgrade health care quality, many nations have actively engaged in medical reforms, including the United States, which will spend US$19.2 billion between 2009 and 2012 on medical reforms, and China, which will invest 850 billion yuan.

Medical care is one of the six emerging industries that Taiwan is promoting, and the e-medical records will be one of the priorities in the sector, the CEPD said.

Once the e-medical records system is adopted by all health care institutions, patients will be able to get their medical records anywhere in the country simply by providing their National Health Insurance IC cards.

The medical records to be digitalized include medical examination reports, scans such as computer tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, blood test results and prescription records.

The plan aims to shorten waiting times of patients at clinics, help patients avoid unneeded duplication of medical tests and prescriptions, and prevent the unnecessary waste of medical resources. (By Erin Ho and Lilian Wu)

More Info: http://www.taiwanheadlines.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=173306&CtNode=39