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Jen-Ai Hospital IPC Celebrates 4th Anniversary

2007/09/28
BY MARK K. CHAN
TAICHUNG, JEN-AI HOSPITAL - DALI

　　In recent months, medical tourism and internationalizing medical care have become popular topics among hospitals in Taiwan. However, in response to the increased interest in international medical services, Jen-Ai Hospital - Dali launched the first "International Patient Center" in Taiwan, way back in September 2003. JAH IPC has been providing on-site interpretations in both English and Japanese, free of charge, in order to facilitate the medical processes for the international patients living in Taichung. The International Patient Center services include scheduling medical appointments, providing interpreters for communicating with doctors, assisting with hospital admissions and discharges, preparing diagnosis and certification documents, translating medical documents for use after returning home and simplifying financial transactions. In addition, IPC has taken part in various events organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Taichung (AmCham), International Women's Association in Taichung (IWAT), Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation, Mitsubishi Company, Toshiba Company, Corning Inc., and Compass Magazine, in recruiting bilingual volunteers and offering community help.

　　International Patient Center was established with a mission to place international patients in the center of their focus and to provide medical services without borders. Since inception, IPC has directly serviced over 5,200 international patient visits, with more than 1,200 patients coming from 64 different nationalities. To this today, Jen-Ai Hospital - Dali has the distinction of being the hospital that is serving the most nationalities of international patients in Taiwan. The highest record of patient visits in one month is currently at 175 people, showing consistent growth over the last several years. Furthermore, since their official launch, Jen-Ai Hospital International Patient Center has been extremely fortunate to receive numerous local and international awards, namely, "2003 & 2004 Excellent Bilingual-Friendly Hospital Award"; 2004 National Biotechnology & Medical Care Quality Award" in Health Information Website; "2004 & 2006 Very Good English Environment Award"; "2003, 2004, 2005 & 2006 Excellent Medical Website Award"; "HONcode Website Certification from HON Foundation in Switzerland"; and "Certificate of Recognition from 2004 Asian Hospital Management Awards in IT / E-commerce Category".

　　In addition, in 2005, abstract entitled "International Patient Center – Ensuring Patient Safety for International Communities" was accepted at the 2nd Asia Pacific Conference on Risk Management for Preventive Medicine (APCRMPM 2005) in Malaysia. And in 2006, 4 Posters entitled: 1. "International Patient Center – Ensuring Patient Safety for International Communities"; 2. "Website Revamp – Relaunching Website to Include Patient-Centered, Health-Related Information and to Add Various Internet Functions"; 3. "Baby Webpage – Providing Images of the Newborn Baby through the Internet"; & 4. "Baby MMS – Sending Image of the Newborn Baby through Mobile Camera Phone" were accepted at the International Hospital Federation Asian Pacific Regional Conference (IHFAPRC 2006), which took place in Taipei. In 2007, Taiwan College of Healthcare Executives organized a joint healthcare conference, in which Jen-Ai Hospital International Patient Center was also invited to present three posters in Chinese.

　　To date, International Patient Center has implemented many successful projects, in which some of them were the first in Taiwan, such as the Baby Web Nursery and Inpatient E-card Service; but some of them were the first in the world, such as Baby MMS & SMS and Baby Video projects. In the future, International Patient Center hopes to provide more information in additional languages and introduce widely available international medical practices into Taiwan, in order to strengthen the interaction and cooperation between Taiwan and other countries. The International Patient Center will continue to build a better bilingual environment by providing diversified services and information to different target groups.

　　Jen-Ai Hospital International Patient Center has proven to be successful to ensure patient safety for the international community living in Taichung, by providing medical interpretations in various languages. The hospital sincerely believes that International Patient Center services, along with bilingual information, should be made available to all the foreigners living in other cities throughout Asia Pacific region, to prevent adverse medical events from happening to these international patients. Popular specialties among international patients include: Cardiology, Oncology, Orthopedics, Gastroenterology, OB/GYN, Pediatrics, ENT, Urology, Surgery, Pain Management Center, etc. Recently, Jen-Ai Hospital has been extremely fortunate to be approached by several international medical emergency companies. In the past, the hospital has signed contractual agreements to become the Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) in Taichung with International SOS & MedAire, Inc.; and have talked with HTH Worldwide & other medical tourism companies about the possibility of providing medical services for its members, in the near future.