Analysis of Newly Diagnosed Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infected Cases Applying for National Health Service Card and Healthcare Seeking Behavior, Greater Taipei Area, 2016

DOI: 10.6525/TEB.201912_35(23).0001

Chin-Tzu Chen*, Chia-Chen Chao, I-Ling Lee, Hsiao-Ping Tung, Jer-Jea Yen

2019 Vol.35 NO.23

Correspondence Author: Chin-Tzu Chen*

  • Taipei Regional Center, Centers for Disease Control, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taiwan

Abstract:

      All the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected cases discovered by medical institutes in Taiwan must be reported according to the Communicable Disease Control Act, and the local public health bureaus then contact the patients to arrange the application of National Health Service Card. With the service card, patients could receive medical subsidies for HIV related medical care at HIV healthcare designated hospitals, so that the patients could have appropriate medical treatment, disease condition under control, and better life quality. We enrolled 953 HIV cases in Greater Taipei Area newly diagnosed in 2016, who have completed the application of National Health Service Card. A total of 645 patients have completed the application of National Health Service Card within 7 days. Among them, 97% had attended the HIV healthcare designated hospital for medical care during January 01, 2016 to June 30, 2017 and 88.8% had sought medical care within 1 month after the diagnosis, while 79.5% of them had received the treatment of HIV drugs. The average time between diagnosis and treatment was 32.8 days. Besides, among the patients who had sought medical care, 89.8% of them had kept seeking for medical care without discontinuation. Comparing with patients applying for service card after 7 days, those applying earlier had better healthcare seeking behavior. This indicates that if local public health bureaus could contact newly diagnosed HIV patients earlier for the application of National Health Service Card, these patients would attend medical care earlier, leading to stable and continuous medical care attendance.