2022 APEC Conference on Digital Healthcare Innovation
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is one of the most important multi-lateral official forums for economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. In order to strengthen interaction and exchange of various economies, the NHIA applied to APEC for a project and received financial subsidies amounting to US$75,000 to hold the APEC Conference on Digital Healthcare Innovation — COVID-19 Response by Health Information Utilization on September 21-22, 2022.
This international conference took “Innovative Digital Healthcare Applications in the Pandemic” as its central topic and held discussions on four themes: “Digital transformation of healthcare and related innovations,” “New health policies and challenges in the post-pandemic era,” “Telehealth and the future for hospitals,” and “Bring artificial intelligence in action in healthcare.” On September 21, Deputy Minister Chung-Liang Shih of the Ministry of Health and Welfare delivered a speech at the opening ceremony, and Director-General Sharon S. N. Wu of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department of International Organizations was also present to offer her congratulations; also invited were representatives of the health systems, industry, governments, and academia of many economies as plenary speakers.
Plenary 1: Digital Transformation of Healthcare and Related Innovations
The first plenary session, “Digital transformation of healthcare and related innovations,” was moderated by Dr. Ray-Jade Chen, Chair Professor of Surgery of Taipei Medical University. The NHIA Director General Po-Chang Lee shared characteristics of Taiwan's NHI and the results of its application of digital health, such as test and examination images, building AI models with big data, and precision medicine. Dr. Maheshwara Rao A/L Appannan, Senior Principal Assistant Director of the Disease Control Division, Ministry of Health of Malaysia shared Malaysia’s digital pandemic monitoring system, virtual medical visits, precision medicine, and the revolution in medicine after the introduction of digital tools. Dr. Peter Chuanyi Hou, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School, reporting online, spoke on the policy development, regulations, payment, and current state of telemedicine as it is used in the US.