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Objectives: Four revised versions of Taiwan's abortion legislation were proposed in 2012 and raised controversy. Legislators led by Li-huan Yang proposed a six-day 'mandatory waiting periods' coupled with 'mandatory counseling'. Legislators led by Shi-bao Lai proposed 'consent from two doctors'. Both of these aimed to reduce the abortion rate and increase the birth rate. The Administrative Yuan for its part proposed a 'mandatory waiting period' of three days plus 'mandatory counseling'. And finally, legislators led by Yi-chen Wu proposed that medical institutions should provide all kinds of information related to abortion', and that local government 'should provide birth counseling to citizens'. This paper aims at analyzing the controversy. Methods: Three methods are adopted. (1) Discourse analysis is applied on documents collected from legal and medical research papers, government data and news reports. (2) Descriptive statistics is applied on two surveys conducted in 2007 and 2008 on women and obgynecologists nationwide respectively. (3) Text analysis is applied to the written texts provided by women and ob-gynecologists on some open-ended questions in the survey. Results: The 'Mandatory waiting periods' as proposed by Yang and the Administrative Yuan is found to lack consideration of reality, as our survey shows that most women considering the terminating of an unplanned pregnancy have already been thinking much longer than the stipulated period, typically having already done this for periods ranging from over one week to a whole month. As regards 'mandatory counseling', this is found to be in violation of human rights and professional ethics. As to 'consent from two doctors', this is found to create difficulties for women, and is opposed by a majority of ob-gynecologists. Conclusions: Two types of discourse appear in the controversy, the 'restrictive and controlling discourse' receives little support from academic research, or in surveys of women and physicians, and also runs counter to the professional ethics of counseling. Many research findings have shown that 'Mandatory waiting periods' do not contribute to the reduction of the abortion rate. The 'women centered discourse' reflects the women's needs and practice on the matter, and the 'patient centered discourse' practiced by ob-gynecologists can give support to 'women centered discourse'. As for an effective reduction of abortion rate, the paper finds that policy makers would achieve greater success by promoting greater use of contraceptives, and improving economic and social welfare, thus enabling women to consider keeping unplanned fetuses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This paper explores the factors influencing the involvement of health-promoting Taiwanese elementary schools in school-family partnership. Methods: The study design was cross-sectional. A stratified random sample was used, according to the size of the districts and individual schools, to select participants from 2,675 primary schools in Taiwan. A total of 584 participants were recruited and the response rate was 67% (n=391). Structured questionnaires including items on demographics, predisposing factors, reinforcing factors, enabling factors, and involvement in school-family partnership, were used to collect data. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and hierarchy regression, and p < .05 was considered statistically significant. The research framework was based on the PRECEDE-PROCEED model. Results: The demographics, predisposing factors, reinforcing factors, and enabling factors were the major factors affecting school involvement in school-family partnership, accounting for 46.4% of the total variance for involvement in school-family partnership. The demographics, predisposing factors, reinforcing factors, and enabling factors can divided for 4.4%, 13.2%, 20.3% & 8.6% of the total variances. Conclusions: The availability of helpful resources, supportive policymaking, supportive principal, colleagues, and perceived efficacy of school-family partnership, can successfully enhanced school involvement in school-family partnership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The purpose of this paper was to investigate whether there was an improvement in the treatment outcomes for AMI patients in Yilan County after the opening of the Hsuehshan Tunnel on June 16, 2006. The Hsuehshan Tunnel connects Taipei City with Yilan County and substantially cuts down the traveling time between the two regions. It may facilitate the migration of medical manpower between the two regions and increase accessibility to medical center hospitals for Yilan's inhabitants. Methods: By using the 2004-2008 National Health Insurance Database, we estimated the changes in the 30-day mortality rate and readmission rate of Yilan's AMI patients via the logistic regression model and difference-in-differences. Results: We found that 30-day mortality rates for AMI patients in Yilan County did decline after the opening of the Hsuehshan Tunnel. This finding persisted when AMI patients in Yilan County and Hualien County were compared via difference-in-differences. There was also a decline in the readmission rates; however, it was not statistically significant. Conclusions: The treatment outcomes for Yilan's AMI patients did improve after the opening of the Hsuehshan Tunnel. Transportation facilities have a positive effect on the treatment outcomes for AMI patients living in less accessible areas because of the migration of medical manpower to regions with improved transportation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States, the SEER-Medicare data link cancer patients in the SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) Program with Medicare enrollment to identify cancer patients who are eligible for Medicare and to provide Medicare Claims for these patients. Statistics from the National Cancer Institute show that there are over 650 peer-reviewed publications using the SEER -Medicare database. This database has been the primary data source for health services research in oncology since its inception, and it has made tremendous contributions to policies related to cancer control, treatment, and surveillance in the United States. The National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD), established at the initiation of the Taiwan's National Health Insurance program in 1995, is a claims database. The Taiwan Cancer Database (TCDB), based on the Taiwan Cancer Registry, was established in 2002. The creation of a TCDB-NHIRD linked database could produce a SEER-Medicare-like database and has the potential to become an invaluable resource for cancer as well as policy researchers in Taiwan. This paper introduces the SEER-Medicare database, including data collection, software, applications of the database, data elements, structure, validation, the data request and application process, limitations of the database, and privacy and confidentiality issues. We then use a previously published breast cancer study to demonstrate the procedures involved in generating research from the SEER-Medicare database, followed by recommendations for the future development of a database that links TCDB to the NHIRD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper was to explore potential sources of revenue for National Health Insurance (NHI). Potential revenue sources considered were earmarked taxes on various substances including cigarettes, alcoholic beverages and betel nuts. A fat tax, a green tax, a luxury tax and a gambling tax were also considered. We reviewed the literature in this area of research, examined relevant financing policies in other countries, and discussed the benefits and costs associated with the proposed revenue sources. We suggest that the government raise the tax rates on tobacco and alcohol consumption to finance NHI. In addition, the government can tax sin goods such as betel nuts and sugar-sweetened beverages. In light of the negative externalities associated with gambling and pollution activities, the government can use parts of the green tax and the gambling tax to finance NHI. Finally, a luxury tax is also a good financing alternative due to its redistributive nature. We contend that, due to NHI's growing financial burden, it is imperative to find supplemental sources of revenue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]