Integrated telehome care with community-based health information system

Even as the 21^st Century dawns, Taiwan has already become an aging society. As of 2007, more than 10% of the population is composed of elderly people over 65 years of age. Due to a decrease in total fertility rate to 1.1 in 2008, the proportion of elderly people in the general population will increase more rapidly in the next two decades. The increasingly elderly population, coupled with a corresponding shortage of productive manpower, means that many elderly people are living alone or without a designated caregiver during the day. In this study, a health management center with a community-based health information system platform was integrated with a community hospital and primary care family doctors to provide telehome care for elderly people with chronic diseases or disabilities.