Taiwan’s National Health Insurance to cover robotic surgical procedures

The policy will take effect on 1 March.

Taiwan’s National Health Insurance (NHI) will cover procedures performed by the robotic surgical system, Da Vinci Surgical Systems starting 1 March.

The National Health Insurance Administration announced last December that the NHI will cover 17 robot-assisted surgeries. It is estimated that nearly 1,000 people will benefit from this technology each year in the future and this will save an average of NT$90,000 (US$2925.16) per person, a report by Focus Taiwan said.

The decision to approve the use of robotic arms for 17 procedures such as liver resection, which removes cancerous tumours from the liver was made last year. 

NHIA official Chen Yi-chieh said that a Health Technology Assessment of the medical technology found evidence of its safety and efficacy, and empirical data shows that the Da Vinci Surgical Systems can help reduce the length of procedures and blood loss. Based on these findings, the committee on 22 December unanimously approved health insurance coverage for the additional procedures.

According to Chen, only specially certified physicians will be allowed to operate the devices. In addition, healthcare facilities will be required to present a report within two months of the surgery on whether adverse reactions had occurred within 14 days after the operation, any intraoperative blood loss, and efficacy to facilitate clinical research into the systems.

The NHI has covered radical prostatectomies and partial nephrectomies performed by the system since January 2016 and December 2019, respectively. In 2021, The Taiwan Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the Taiwan Pancreas Society, and other medical associations called on the agency to include other coverage for other procedures, such as partial liver resection.