Min-Sheng Celebrates 33rd Anniversary, unveils Taiwan's First Hospital Self Service Kiosks

Taiwan's first JCI accredited hospital, and Taoyuan's largest regional hospital, Min-Sheng General, celebrated its 33rd anniversary on July 16th, 2008 with a series of festivities. Several high profile guests attended the event, including health ministers, legislators, and precinct leaders.
Over the past almost forty years that Min-Sheng has served the Taoyuan area its doctors and staff have continually received the praise of local residents. Taking the lead in the medical industry once again, Min-Sheng used this occasion to officially unveil its brand new self service kiosks. Min-Sheng is the first hospital in Taiwan to incorporate self service kiosks that allow patients to register and pay for appointments, thus saving patrons valuable time. Aside from saving time, the new devices will also improve the service of the hospital's clinics by making it easier and faster to browse patient information.
As part of the anniversary celebrations, Min-Sheng has officially declared this year as "The Year of Touching Service." Therefore, the hospital will continue with the mystery shopper surveys to ensure that high service standards are met. However, Min-Sheng would also like to make sure that the service and environment are both warm and friendly. That's why this year Min-Sheng held the Little Star Modeling Competition. The winner's picture will be displayed on posters throughout the hospital with reminders such as no smoking; keep voices down in hospital lobby; etc. It is hoped that the pictures of cute children accompanying the admonishments will enliven the environment and give patrons a warmer impression. A life size card board cut out was made of the child who won the competition. Several guests and patients present during the ceremony were impressed by the life sized cut out. They all felt that it would make future visitors and patients feel warm and happy. Moreover, they believed that the presence of children may alleviate patients' suffering.
The activities that took place in celebration of Min-Sheng's 33rd anniversary were the kiosk unveiling, star model ceremony, children's dance performance, and the annual stair climbing activity. To conclude the festivities, anniversary cake was served and one more dance was performed

Min-Sheng General Hospital Newly Establishes Diabetes Center

Min-Sheng has officially established its new Diabetes Center located on the second floor of the Chin-Kuo campus. The ceremony took place on July 8th at the center and in the hospital's first floor lobby. The entire hospital staff along with several esteemed guests was invited to take part in the festivities which included speeches regarding diabetes and diabetic retinopathy. Additionally, Dr. Qiang Zhuang (a metabolism doctor) and ophthalmologist, Dr. Zhi-Kai Liang, were invited to speak at the event.

The diabetes rate in Taiwan is 5.8%, and in 2006, there were 77,574 people diagnosed with diabetes in Taoyuan County alone. Not only is the cost of treating diabetes high, but the disease makes it easy to contract various chronic illnesses. Hence, it is necessary to have a team of diabetes specialists to provide care. As part of Min-Sheng's goals of safeguarding local patients by providing high quality care and service, two members from the National Taiwan University Hospital have been invited to consult at the diabetes center: Professor Dong-Yuan Dai and Consultant Wen-Jie Ke. The center will integrate community based medicine with comprehensive care. Through the cooperation of the community and the hospital, the Taoyuan area will be provided with the best available service.

Director of the Diabetes Center, Dr. Zhi-Ming Chen stated: "From this day forth, the local residents will greatly benefit from the services provided by this center. Far from being limited to doctors, it will be all of this center's members who will make it a success. That includes the nurses, administrators, nutritionists, and so on. Furthermore, the center's new state of the art eye scanning equipment will afford diabetes patients the most comprehensive follow up care available."

The deputy director of the Diabetes Center, Dr. Guan-Qun Zhang, said: "Through the establishment of this center, patients will be able to receive complete care and service that includes examinations, tests, education, and follow up. Aside from reducing and postponing the incidence of illness, it will protect patients' health and at the same time control medical costs, which is a big win for everyone.

Moreover, the integration of U-Care and telemedicine will ensure case management follow up. Not only that, but patient centered, long distance health care will also allow sufferers of diabetes access to high quality medical care. Eventually, telemedicine is bound to become a new health care market."

Min-Sheng Wins Two Awards, Including Number One Health Care Group

Min-Sheng General Hospital has been awarded two prestigious awards by the Taoyuan County Bureau of Health regarding volunteer work: Number One Health Care Group and Most Improved.

Min-Sheng’s founder, Dr. Min-Sheng Yang, has undertaken a host of philanthropic projects in his time. Among them, he has provided hospital beds for the needy, expanded and integrated social resources, and established a volunteer network. Since the beginning, there have been many enthusiastic volunteers, including a group of mothers, religious volunteers, young people, business leaders, etc. who have participated in a wide array of civic and charitable activities.

Participating in the accreditation process this time were 34 groups (20 medical groups and 14 health groups). The surveyors from the Bureau of Health were on-site May 5th, 2008. They were deeply impressed with the hospital’s volunteer network and its nine large innovation projects.

Min-Sheng’s volunteer network has received much praise lately, and this month received the government’s highest honor by being rated the number one medical group and most improved. Through Ms. Yan-Qiu Chen’s(Public Affairs Office) selfless devotion to charitable works and unmatched determination, the number of volunteers has rapidly increased to 180. Ms. Chen stated that preparing for accreditation took a year and a half. She went on to say that although many felt that the task couldn’t be done, she and the other volunteers were determined to make the impossible possible, and didn’t relent until they had accomplished their mission.
Min-Sheng’s endless devotion to philanthropy and innovation provide patients and family members with humanitarian and international services. For example, the hospital has interpreters for eight different languages, innovative services, and enthusiastic volunteers. Deputy C.E. O. Charles Chang said that winning the top award from the Taoyuan County Health Bureau is the same as winning a national award for the entire country seeing that the Taoyuan Health Bureau has been the country’s number one health bureau for the past several years.

Min-Sheng’s director of social services pointed out that the volunteer network has integrated community resources, and has gotten staff involved in volunteer work and education as well. He added that in the future the hospital will pursue social resources, as well as the cooperation of the nearby Tong-An police station and the health bureau in order to give even more back to the community.

Min-Sheng’s Foray into the World of Medical Tourism Continues to Receive Media Coverage

After being interviewed by Las Vegas’ largest newspaper, the Las Vegas Sun, and the largest overseas Chinese newspaper, the World Journal, during a trip to the U.S. in May, Min-Sheng was later mentioned in the May issue of U. S. News and World Report. The issue, which centered on medical travel, included Min-Sheng in a list of the world’s top 42 hospitals for medical travel.

Additionally, Min-Sheng is in the June edition of the International Medical Travel Journal which focuses on how an open door policy between Taiwan and mainland China will affect both sides of the straight with regards to medical tourism. Furthermore, the article classified Min-Sheng as one of five hospitals in Taiwan providing medical tourism services. The article provides a half page description of Min-Sheng’s specialties and services as well.

San-San Liao, an International Health Care Center specialist, stated: “Without direct cross-straight flights, Mainland Chinese patients may choose to receive health care in Hong Kong rather than in Taiwan. However, the capacity of Hong Kong health care is limited. With the availability of direct flights, China patients will have more access to quality health care.”

Ms. Liao also shared Min-Sheng’s international management experience, including the source of Min-Sheng’s international customers, the hospital’s latest technology, its medical specialties, etc.

Min-Sheng Founder Reflects on 33 Years of Success During Recent Accreditation Process

First of all, I’d like to begin by representing Min-Sheng’s thousand plus staff members in welcoming the surveyors and the rest of our honored guests. I strongly believe that the 48 hour accreditation process will greatly benefit our hospital and staff.

Min-Sheng was established thirty-three years ago, and although it’s a private organization with limited resources, we’ve never been shy or self conscious about who we are; with tenacity and gumption, we’ve continually strived to overcome any and all obstacles standing in our path.

Early on, after returning from Tai-Da to start a hospital in my hometown of Taoyuan, my only desire was to provide medical care for the local residents and allow them to be able to receive quality care without having to go too far from home. We radually blossomed and our patient centered outlook led us to become a small hospital chain. By the end of the last century, we felt that the medical environment had undergone huge changes resulting in the need for a large scale hospital in order to attract the top talent and to firmly establish ourselves in an extremely competitive environment. Therefore, we made the announcement to our shareholders and staff that we were once again purchasing land in order to build a new hospital. Two years later, Min-Sheng’s Ching-Kuo campus became the health care system’s flagship hospital.

This year marks Min-Sheng General Hospital’s eight year anniversary. The challenges posed by SARS and the limitations of national health insurance reimbursements hindered the progress of the new hospital for the first few years. Then, three years ago, former superintendant of Tai-Da Hospital, Professor Yuan-De Li, and several excellent young physicians from Tai-Da joined the team. Aided by this strong new team and the leadership of Professor Li, Min-Sheng was able to overcome many obstacles and rise to success. Moreover, the young superintendant, Dr. Fred Yang, through a series of astute financial maneuvers, such as the sale and lease back deal with ING, rendered the hospital a debt free organization.

Under the leadership C.E.O. Yuan-De Li, we were able to attain international accreditation. Last year, we were even brave enough to pursue the National Quality Award. Although we fell just short of receiving the award, it was nevertheless an invaluable experience. Additionally, Superintendant Fred Yang is in the midst of ensuring that the health care needs of local residents are met.

Because the current era of health care is dominated by national health insurance, and hospitals everywhere are subject to its control, hospital behavior is the same all over. Ultimately, health care providers have never faced such daunting challenges. Min-Sheng understands that it is powerless to resist national health insurance reimbursement. However, we must do our best to minimize its effects by developing international medicine, medical tourism, VIP health examinations, elder care, web based medicine, and self pay services. Furthermore, we must learn from other industries’ development models in order to maximize our efficiency and create the most value. These are our future goals.

Of course, medical safety is still our number one priority. Presently, we very much look forward to any advice from the national health officials as to how we can improve and exceed the standards set by the National Ministry of Health. Finally, I’d like to once again thank everyone for his or her efforts during the accreditation process.

(The above content comes from Chairman Yang)