Digital-driven healthcare: A new chapter of holistic care in Taiwan

As the world confronts the challenges of population ageing and healthcare workforce shortages, digital transformation in healthcare is no longer optional but essential. Taiwan has introduced the “Healthy Taiwan” vision, placing “driving digital healthcare” at its core. By integrating big data, artificial intelligence (AI), and cloud technologies, the system aims to improve healthcare quality and efficiency while moving toward a new healthcare model centred on holistic, person-centred care.

Taiwan benefits from both a robust ICT industry and the foundation of its National Health Insurance (NHI) system, which has accumulated high-quality healthcare data over time and laid a critical foundation for smart healthcare development. Building on this, we have introduced a national digital health platform known as the “3-3-3 Framework,” integrating three major health spaces, three key health data standards, and three National AI governance centres to establish a comprehensive digital health infrastructure. Under this framework, we are promoting the integration of electronic medical records across more than 400 hospitals nationwide and adopting international standards such as Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) to ensure cross-institutional interoperability. Within a Zero Trust cybersecurity framework, healthcare data can be securely shared and effectively utilised.

With these policies in place, tangible results are already beginning to emerge. In chronic disease management, the “Family Physician Platform” incorporates AI-based risk prediction to support physicians in delivering personalised care, facilitating a shift from reactive treatment to proactive health management. In terms of healthcare data integration, the MediCloud system provides real-time access to patient records and medication information, while enhanced visualisation of examination results and AI-assisted medical imaging interpretation further improve healthcare quality and patient safety.

Personal health management has also been strengthened. The “My Health Bank” platform has surpassed a 50% adoption rate and can be integrated with data from wearable devices, encouraging individuals to take a more active role in managing their health. In the digitalisation of cancer treatment, Taiwan utilises the FHIR standard to exchange Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) data, accelerating the review process for catastrophic illness certification and related medical use, thereby improving access to timely treatment. In addition, the promotion of virtual health insurance cards, e-prescriptions, and telemedicine services is effectively overcoming temporal and geographical barriers, expanding access to rural and home-based care.

Taiwan has established a comprehensive governance framework to advance the development of clinical AI. Nineteen national medical AI centres have been established, covering responsible governance, clinical validation, and impact evaluation, ensuring that AI is safe and reliable across the entire process from development to application. To date, more than 50 AI medical products have received regulatory approval, supporting early cancer detection, prediction of cardiac events, and clinical decision-making support. Taiwan also has 13 hospitals ranked among Newsweek’s “World’s Best Smart Hospitals 2026,” placing second in Asia and demonstrating strong international competitiveness. In addition, Taiwan is advancing federated learning platforms that enable cross-institutional and cross-border AI model validation without transferring sensitive data, and has begun collaborating with partners in Southeast Asia to establish trusted international data-sharing models.

Diseases know no borders, and global health governance requires comprehensive collaboration. Taiwan has established a smart healthcare ecosystem driven by data, enabled by AI, and supported by interoperable standards, extending medical services from hospitals into communities and daily life and realising holistic care. Taiwan’s practical experience demonstrates that we are capable of contributing to the international community.

However, Taiwan continues to be excluded from full participation in the World Health Organisation and its related mechanisms. United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 and World Health Assembly (WHA) Resolution 25.1 neither mention Taiwan nor exclude Taiwan from participating in the WHO and the WHA.

We sincerely urge WHO and relevant stakeholders to support Taiwan’s inclusion in the global health system, thereby strengthening its completeness and resilience. Taiwan will continue to advance smart healthcare through digital innovation and contribute to global health and well-being. Together, we can realise the vision of health as a fundamental human right as set forth in the WHO Constitution, as well as the commitment of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals to leave no one behind.

The author is the Minister of Health and Welfare of Taiwan; Views presented are personal.