Article Content

Print

To provide occupational accident workers with consolidated services for treating Occupational injury or disease and reporting of Occupational injury or disease, the central competent authority may subsidize approved medical institutions to perform the following:
1.Establish Occupational injury or disease clinics with service windows.
2.Consolidate resources inside medical institutions, report Occupational injury or disease across specialties and departments, provide consolidated services such as diagnosis, treatment, medical rehabilitation, functional rehabilitation, etc.
3.Establish regional Occupational injury or disease treatment and functional rehabilitation service network with a timely referral.
4.Provide individual case management services, with necessary follow-up and referral.
5.Reporting of Occupational injury or disease under regional service network.
6.Onsite visit of suspected occupational disease.
7.Other medical and health related matters for occupational accident workers.
Under the previous paragraph, the approved medical institutions may consolidate with the professional functional rehabilitation institutions under Article 66 to provide consolidated service measures.
When a worker seeks medical service with a suspected occupational disease, if the physician has difficulty diagnosing the causation of occupational disease, the worker may be referred to an approved medical institution under the first paragraph.
The employer, medical institution or another person who learns about the Occupational injury or disease of a worker or the worker suffering Occupational injury or disease him/herself may file a report with the competent authority. Upon receipt of the report, the competent authority shall consolidate reported information of Occupational injury or disease in accordance with Article 65 and provide timely services and assistance measures required by such worker.
The approval conditions for the medical institutions under the first paragraph, their management, personnel qualifications, manner of service, reporting of Occupational injury or disease, onsite visit of suspected occupational disease, subsidy standards, revocation, personnel, manner and details of the report under the previous paragraph and other compliance matters shall be prescribed by the central competent authority in consultation with central health and welfare competent authority.

To organize occupational disease prevention and occupational accident worker rehabilitation services, the central competent authority may ask the following entities to provide relevant information and such entities shall not refuse:
1.Information lawfully collected and processed by central health and welfare competent authorities and the authorities (institutions) under their jurisdictions is required to treat specific diseases.
2.Medical history, medical care and health examination information kept by medical institutions.
The central competent authority shall exercise the due care of a good administrator in relation to the information acquired according to the previous two paragraphs. The retention, processing, and use of relevant information shall be in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Act provisions.

If deemed required to review and approve an occupational disease benefit case, the insurer may seek occupational disease appraisal from the central competent authority.
If the insured person has a dispute about the occupational disease benefit case and if the insured person has been diagnosed with the occupational disease by a physician specializing in occupational medicine in an approved medical institution under the first paragraph of Article 73, when he/she files for review in accordance with Article 5, the insurer may be asked to seek occupational disease appraisal from the central competent authority.
To carry out occupational disease appraisal under the previous two paragraphs, the central competent authority shall establish a list of occupational disease appraisal experts (hereinafter referred to as the “Expert List”) and select members from the List of Experts depending on the type of disease to form an occupational disease appraisal committee.
The regulations about the scope of acceptance of occupational disease appraisal cases, the formation of the occupational disease appraisal committee, the experts’ qualifications, recommendations, screening and selection, occupational disease appraisal procedure, analysis and disclosure of appraisal results and other relevant matters shall be prescribed by the central competent authority.

If deemed necessary by the occupational disease appraisal committee, the central competent authority may conduct an investigation together with the occupational disease appraisal committee.
None of the employer, employer’s representative, worker or any other relevant person shall evade, interfere with or refuse the investigation under the previous paragraph.
If required, a notice may be given to the subject or relevant person to participate in the investigation under the first paragraph.