APEC Conference on Harnessing AI for Resilient and Inclusive Health Systems
2025 APEC Workshop on Strategies to Enhance Integrated People-Centered Health Care
The “APEC Workshop on Strategies to Enhance Integrated People-Centered Health Care” was organized by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Chinese Taipei. This workshop was held in Taipei on 2-3 September 2025 (GMT+8). The event engaged 14 speakers/experts and attracted around 100 participants from 9 APEC economies, including Australia; Canada; Japan; Republic of Korea; Malaysia; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; and Viet Nam.
Day 1 consisted of 3 plenary sessions including panel discussions. The topics are as follows,
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Plenary 1: Best Practices in Governance, Accountability, and Frameworks to Support Integrated People-Centered Healthcare
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Plenary 2: Empowerment in Healthcare: Using Digital Technologies to Enhance Integrated Care Services and Reduce Health Inequities
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Plenary 3: Effective Integrated Healthcare Models: Community Engagement, Cross-Departmental Cooperation, Enhancing Quality and Outcomes
Day 2 consisted of a panel discussion and site visit to RICARE Day Care Center
Key Findings and Corporation Recommendations
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Healthcare System Transformation to Integrated Care: Healthcare systems were undergoing a fundamental transformation, shifting from fragmented, institution-centric models to integrated, people-centered care. This change aimed to create more sustainable, equitable, and effective healthcare systems. While the vision for reform was shared across economies, each system had to adapt to its unique context, including healthcare structure, funding sources, and cultural background. Therefore, it was crucial to tailor strategies to local realities, ensuring that reforms align with each economy's governance, political will, and societal values.
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Leveraging Digital Health for Healthcare Empowerment: Digital health technologies were being strategically used to shift healthcare from a provider-centric model to one that empowered individual patients. This transformation enabled patients to directly access their health information and utilized personalized tools for managing their conditions. However, fully realizing the potential of these technologies required coordinated efforts in public infrastructure development, private sector innovation, and collaborative partnerships. A key consideration moving forward was ensuring digital equity and addressing broader social determinants of health to prevent these technologies from unintentionally exacerbating health disparities. Both companies and governments had to work together to promote digital equity by addressing gaps in digital literacy and ensuring that vulnerable populations had equitable access to the necessary technology.
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Contextual Approaches to People-Centered Integrated Care and Collaboration: Addressing common challenges such as aging populations and systemic fragmentation required highly contextual and flexible approaches to integrated care. The most successful strategies were prioritizing trust, grassroots empowerment, and broad collaboration. Public-private partnerships were essential for maximizing the potential of digital health technologies and creating sustainable healthcare systems. These collaborations fostered better infrastructure, innovation, and resource-sharing, all of which were critical for achieving integrated care that was responsive to the unique needs of each community.
