中醫居家醫療之現況與展望

Recently, the demand for home health care has increased in Taiwan, which has an aged society. The Taiwanese government has introduced several programs since 1995 to integrate and improve the medical care of patients who face difficulties visiting health-care facilities due to disability, illness or frailty. The Home-Based Integrated Care Program, which took effect in 2016, is a three-stage holistic program that incorporates home-based medical care, severe home-based medical care, and home-based palliative care. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) can be used for home-based medical care. In TCM, patients are treated with a special focus on preventive medicine; related treatments can be used to prevent disability, to slow the progression of disability, and to improve the health of older adults with moderate-to-severe disability. By improving individual health, TCM can also help improve the overall quality of health care. The Taiwanese government included TCM in the Home-based Integrated Care Program in June 2019. Patients who require TCM care can apply to receive such care at home. On the basis of our literature review, this paper examines the role and contribution of TCM in home health care with the support of empirical experience. The evolution of home health-care programs in Taiwan is also reviewed herein.