The second APEC Health Working Group (HWG) meeting of this year was held in Seattle, USA from August 3 to August 5, 2023.    I-Ming Parng, the Director General of the Department of Information Management of the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW), was invited to talk about Taiwan's experience of using technology in epidemic prevention, as well as the digital usage of NHI cards, information security, and the experience in developing the Next Generation Medical Information Platform in the Digital Health session. The deputy director of The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) of USA, Steven Posnack, was also invited to discuss in this session, sharing their experience in developing data interoperability. The participants were highly interested in both speeches and a lot of opinions were exchanged.

For this year's second APEC HWG meeting held in Seattle, the Minister Jui-Yuan Hsueh of MOHW personally led the representative team made up of the heads of the Office of International Cooperation, the Department of Mental Health, the Department of Information Management, the Food and Drug Administration, the Health Promotion Administration, the Centers for Disease Control, and the National Health Insurance Administration. Numerous key health issues in the Asian-Pacific region were discussed in the meeting, including climate change, mental health, and women's health. The representatives of Taiwan proactively participated in the discussion of each topic and joined multiple policy dialogues to strive to be in line with international standards.

The MOHW said that in the Digital Health session, Taiwan not only led the discussion but also had the research team of MOHW presented the results of the Study on the Use of Telemedicine to Promote Health Equity in APEC Region After COVID-19. The study corresponds to the trend in which the APEC member economies are taking initiatives in using the technology of digital health to promote data interoperability, reinforce information security, improve people's health and welfare, and minimize health inequality in the post-COVID-19 era.

Taiwan's information and communication industry possesses the advantages of a well-developed industry chain and advanced technologies. The development of digital health has obtained significant outcomes that are highly visible and recognized by all the member economies participating in the meeting. Representatives of USA, Japan, Korea, Philippines, and Malaysia spoke highly of our results and showed interests in participating in relevant digital health events in the future. Moreover, they urged all members to adopt the data interoperability standards of HL7/FHIR to reinforce information security. It shows that Taiwan, as the leading member economy for Digital Health Sub-Working Group, has provided indispensable leadership and contributions to the development of digital health in the APEC region.