台灣國際醫療的現況及展望

Status and Outlook of International Medical Services in Taiwan

台灣的醫療水準在亞洲甚至全世界都頗獲好評，隨著政府積極推動新南向政策，將國際醫療視為重要醫療旅遊產業，並鬆綁相關政策促進發展，各大醫學中心也紛紛跟進，搶食這塊新商機。雖然發展國際醫療已是世界潮流，台灣也積極跟進，但是除了金錢的收益之外，並無任何實證可以說明台灣國際醫療服務的品質，因此，從事國際醫療服務品質的相關研究刻不容緩。回顧所有與國際醫療有關的研究型文獻，發現只有一篇來自台灣，作者透過質性研究探討18位來自中國大陸的顧客為何選擇台灣為醫療旅遊地點，及他們對台灣醫療服務的印象，由於半數以上的受訪者都是來台接受健檢服務，他們的想法可能與罹患重病的國際醫療個案不同，因此有需要進行更嚴謹的研究，探討不同就醫目的（健檢vs治病）、不同國家的病人（中國大陸vs其他東南亞國家）、或不同性質的國際醫療病人（自費就醫vs人道醫療救援），對台灣國際醫療服務品質的看法。筆者認為雖然台灣國際醫療蓬勃發展，但是穩定且不斷精進的服務品質，才是台灣國際醫療應該重視的焦點，如此才能提高國際醫療病人的就醫滿意度及其回診的意願，進而願意推薦他人前來就醫，為台灣國際醫療創造更長遠的商機。

The medical level of Taiwan is highly acknowledged in Asia and even around the world. Since the government actively promotes the “new southward policy”, international medical services have been regarded as an important medical tourist industry and the government is also relieving related policy restrictions to stimulate its development. All major hospitals are striving to seize this new business opportunity. Despite the fact that international medical service has become the development trend, what is its service quality apart from the economic profits? The latter actually deserves more attention of the industry, authorities, and academic field. Therefore, it is important to research on the quality of international medical services. In review of all research literatures related to international medical services, it is found that only one article is from Taiwan. Its author explored through qualitative research method why 18 customers from Mainland China selected Taiwan as their medical tourist destination and their impression of medical services in Taiwan. As majority of the respondents came to Taiwan for healthcare services, their opinions may be different from international medical customers with illness. Thus more research are needed to investigate the opinions about the quality of international medical services in Taiwan from customers with different medical purposes (healthcare vs illness treatment), patients from different countries (Mainland China vs other SEA countries) or different types of international medical patients (self-financed medical group vs humanistic medical assistance). The author argued that although the international medical services are prospering in Taiwan, the focus shall be on the stable and continuously improved quality of services. Only in this way can it improve the medical service satisfaction and return visit willingness of patients seeking for international medical services as well as their willingness to recommend others to come to Taiwan for medical services, thus bringing more longterm business opportunities for international medical services in Taiwan.