Findings on Health and Society Reported by Researchers at National Taichung University of Science and Technology (The welfare effect of co-payment adjustments on emergency department visits in medical centers: Evidence from Taiwan)

2020 JUL 27 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Taiwan Daily Report -- Current study results on Health and Medicine - Health and Society have been published. According to news reporting from Taichung, Taiwan, by NewsRx editors, the research stated, “This study investigates the welfare effect of copayment adjustments on emergency department (ED) visits in medical centers under the National Health Insurance (NHI) program in Taiwan. To this end, we first applied the smooth time-varying co-integration model to estimate the time-varying price and income elasticities of ED care demand in medical centers, and then welfare effects of various copayment adjustments were simulated.”

Financial support for this research came from Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan.

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from the National Taichung University of Science and Technology, “Our empirical results suggested that an upward adjustment in copayment neither cause a potential pricing-out effect nor generate a significant amount of welfare gain, despite there exists a negatively long-run relationship between copayment and ED care utilization in medical centers. Nevertheless, the share of non-urgent ED visits is positively correlated with both the negative time-varying price elasticities and welfare gain.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “These findings serve as important evidence to validate the application of the copayment as a strategic policy instrument to moderate both non-urgent ED care utilization and welfare loss due to moral hazard behavior under Taiwan’s NHI program.”

For more information on this research see: The welfare effect of co-payment adjustments on emergency department visits in medical centers: Evidence from Taiwan. Health Policy, 2020;():. Health Policy can be contacted at: Elsevier Sci Ireland LTD, Customer Relations Manager, Bay 15, Shannon Industrial Estate CO, Clare, Ireland. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Health Policy - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/health-policy/)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Wen-Yi Chen, Dept. of Senior Citizen Service Management, National Taichung University of Science and Technology, Taichung, Taiwan.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2020.03.013. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Publisher contact information for the journal Health Policy is: Elsevier Sci Ireland LTD, Customer Relations Manager, Bay 15, Shannon Industrial Estate CO, Clare, Ireland.

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