Nuclear Medicine Practice with National Health Insurance in Taiwan, 2000 ~ 2013

摘要

This study investigated the utilization of nuclear medicine practice with national health insurance in Taiwan. All data of the nuclear medicine records was extracted from the National Health Insurance Research Database between 2000 and 2013. Descriptive statistical analyses were adopted to analyze the use rate and expenditure of nuclear medicine. Linear regression analysis was applied to evaluate the longitudinal trend in utilization. The annual total number of nuclear medicine procedures was estimated to be 272,066 on average and 11.9 per 1,000 persons with annual increment of 12,617 in 2000 ~ 2013. Whole-body bone scan was the examination most commonly performed with 4.1 per 1,000 persons annually. The stress and redistribution myocardial perfusion scan increased the fastest with 260 increments per million persons each year. In the aspect of medical expenditure, the whole-body positron emission tomography (PET) contributed the highest and increased the fastest with an annual increment of NTD 84 million, and average annual expenditure of NTD 480 million from 2004 to 2013. Overall, the contents of nuclear medicine have significantly changed in the past 14 years in Taiwan and these changes should be correlated with the population aging.