Prof Tai-Yuan Chiu - WONCA Asia Pacific 5-Star Doctor

The 2017 Five-Star Doctor Award in the WONCA Asia Pacific Region is awarded to Prof Tai-Yuan Chiu of Chinese Taipei. Congratulations to Prof Tai-Yuan Chiu for his great achievements in advancing family medicine and primary health care. Prof Chiu exemplifies the five attributes of a 5-star doctor as follows:

* A community leader

Prof Chiu is a pioneer in family and community medicine as well as a community organizer and visionary leader devoted to the betterment of primary health care. He has been a faculty member of Family Medicine Department of the National Taiwan University over 30 years. His students and residents hold him in high esteem. Currently, he is the President of the Taiwan Medical Association and a legislator of our congress, thereby he plays a pivotal role in policy making and health care delivery. He is a Past President and an Executive Board Member of the Taiwan Association of Family Medicine (TAFM),

As a community leader, Prof Chiu strongly believes in the value of teamwork and is an excellent team builder in medical care services. He respects every medical professional, patient and family, and provides patient-centered care. Prof Chiu has been involved with many medical and related organizations including the TAFM, the Taiwan Academy of Hospice Palliative Medicine, Taiwan association of international health, department of Family Medicine and Department of Ambulatory Service, and the National Taiwan University Hospital.

He inspires everyone under his leadership to do their best.

*A care provider

After the Jiji earthquake in September 21, 1999, Prof Chiu was dispatched to the disaster area to assist in the reconstruction of community health as a care provider. Between 1999 and 2002, he visited the disaster area more than a hundred times to coordinate community medical education efforts and experiment and promote a new model of community health care system.

After the SARS epidemic in 2003, he established the first integrated delivery system for family physician care, which is now a mainstay of community health care in Chinese Taipei.

During his tenure (2008-2014) as the President of Taiwan Association of Family Medicine (TAFM), Prof Chiu created the training program of medical reconstruction in China with co-sponsorship by the Red Cross Society of Taiwan. Based on the experience of the post-disaster community health reconstruction of the Jiji earthquake and the introduction of family physician care, this project aimed to rebuild community healthcare in the Wenchuan disaster area. This was done with a training program of general and family medicine professionals at Mianxian County of Shaanxi Province in China. Experienced researchers and clinical practitioners from TAFM exchanged with healthcare professionals in major Chinese cities including Beijing and Shanghai, and visited Mianxian County. The Mianxian family care system TAFM helped build in now serves as a model for improving the quality of general medicine in other rural areas in China.

*A decision maker

As the President of TAFM and a decision maker, Prof Chiu collaborated closely with governmental organizations in important programs for improving community health. During the past six years, TAFM has managed 15 major programs including the Smoking Cessation Therapists Training Program, the Adult Healthcare Services Training Program Co-ordination Program, the AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases Outpatient Quality Improvement Program.

Under Prof Chiu’s leadership, TAFM set its highest priority to enhance family physician care, adopt new technologies and healthcare delivery models with an open mind, and preserve the pride and dignity of the family physician profession.

*A policy maker and a communicator

Prof Chiu has also served as a Legislator (congressional representative) since 2016. As a policy maker and a communicator, he advocates on prevention of violence against medical professionals; reasonable payment from national health insurance to medical care; criminal liability of medical malpractice should be explicit and reasonable; and on many other reformations about the medical system and health insurance, especially promoting the family physician system. With his advocacy, the budget for the Family Physician Integrated Care Plan raised from 1.1 billion in 2010 to 1.5 billion this year.

In order to promote family medicine in the Chinese Taipei healthcare system, Prof Chiu has organized a committee of experts, scholars and young professionals and he has published handbooks and educational publications. These publications help family physicians understand important policies, remind health administrative officials the importance of family medicine, and serve as important references for curriculum design and policy and business decisions.

*An ambassador of the medical profession in Chinese Taipei

Prof Chiu has attended WONCA conferences, both World and Asia Pacific region many times as an ambassador for Chinese Taipei.

He successfully brought international visibility to the healthcare system in Chinese Taipei and international rights and status of TAFM. Chinese Taipei successfully hosted the WONCA Asia-Pacific Regional Conference in 2015 with him as overall chair. In addition, in 2013, Prof Chiu led team members to Prague to participate in the WONCA World Conference.

*A team member

Prof Chiu has had a lifelong passion of being a patient-centered physician.

Through his postgraduate education in Tokyo University and subsequent residency training at Jinshan Group Medical Practice Center Service, he gained much insight into the hospice and palliative medicine ward and participating medical organizations, and has worked as a humble team member for past three decades.

During his tenure as the President of Taiwan Association of Family Medicine, he incessantly advocated for the spreading the core values of family medicine to the young generation of professionals and the public. Throughout his career as a family physician, the external task is to help the government to promote more policies related to the family physician system; and the internal tasks to continue to promote and educate regarding the importance and core values of family medicine.