According to MOHW statistics for 2021, Taiwan has 23,278 medical facilities comprising 478 hospitals and 22,800 clinics. The hospitals have 138,442 beds, equating to a bed density of 73.0 per 10,000 people.

Each year, around 75 to 80 percent of Taiwan graduates from nursing departments and schools become certified professionals. Of these, 90 percent go on to work in nursing related fields. In a given five-year period, an average of 10 percent of nurses leave the profession. Only 60 percent of certified nurses currently work in the field. The government is pursuing reforms to encourage nurses to remain in the profession. Efforts implemented to date comprise: (1) inclusion of nurse-patient ratios in hospital evaluations since 2015; (2) an additional monthly bonus from the NHI to hospitals that achieve designated nurse-patient ratios; (3) publishing the nurse-patient ratios of all hospitals on a monthly basis since July 2016; (4) proposing three major nursing investment fields since 2018: Investment in Home Nursing Care, Investment in Effective Nursing Care and Investment in Smart Nursing Care; (5) establishing a reporting system for workplace conflicts in health facilities in 2018. (6) inclusion of nurse-patient ratio as part of establishment standards for hospitals in 2019; (7) to enhance the professional nursing development and health care quality, the MOHW added anesthesia as a specialty of nurse practitioners in 2020; (8) raising the density of nurses from 60.48 per 10,000 people in 2012 to 79.89 per 10,000 people by 2022.

In addition, Taiwan’s health care system is mainly formed by hospitals. Given the inadequate nursing workforce for community health care, the government launched an action plan in 2017 to increase the number of facilities offering home care services around neighborhoods and to improve the nursing practice rate and universal health coverage through a flexible nursing personnel practice, which includes community-shared economic strategies, an accreditation system for home nursing care, advice on the establishment of home care centers, transitional community education training, nursing mobile information support and subsidies for the establishment of home care centers. These strategies are intended to expand the reach of community-based nursing care systems. Currently, there are 720 home care stations throughout Taiwan, which is a 35 percent increase over the 530 stations in 2017. As the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift in health care modalities, the MOHW promoted family practitioners and defined the scope for individual practice and a shared-care model with physicians, maximizing their capacities in providing primary health care. In 2021, we began to offer a government-subsidized practitioner master’s degree program, cultivating advanced family nurse practitioner talent. After receiving their certificate, practitioners are encouraged to enter service on remote islands, in rural areas and in Indigenous communities, raising the local health care service capacities and reducing health inequality.

The NHI covers over 16,000 essential drugs and medications for rare diseases. As of March 2023, a total of 7,228 pharmacies nationwide were contracted under the system, and 24,794 drug licenses were issued. The Taiwan Food and Drug Administration has also unveiled an essential medicine list, which comprises 398 items that pharmaceutical firms are required to report to the government if they are unable to continue supplying the listed medicines. An evaluation and reporting system for drug shortages was also established to ensure public access to medications. Moreover, pharmacists are also requested to provide patient education services to ensure safe medication use.