To prevent a recurrence of the emergency department overcrowding and healthcare capacity strain witnessed during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan's Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have officially designated 23 major medical institutions as "Core Care Hospitals." The cohort includes elite medical centers such as National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH), Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, and Taichung Veterans General Hospital.

• Rigorous Tiered Framework: Under the newly amended Regulations Governing the Communicable Disease Control Medical Network, candidates were evaluated across five stringent dimensions: clinical diagnostic and laboratory capabilities, infection control protocols, personal protective equipment (PPE) and logistics management, emergency response/coordination, and personnel training.
• Operational Mechanism: In the event of an outbreak involving Category 1 statutory communicable diseases (e.g., rabies, plague) or Category 5 emerging pathogens (e.g., Ebola virus, novel influenza A), these 23 Core Care Hospitals will act as the primary defense line. They will stabilize and treat acute and severe cases before downwardly transferring convalescing patients to secondary "Key Care Hospitals" (such as Taipei City Hospital's Heping and Zhongxing branches), preserving tertiary medical capacity.
• Systemic Enhancements: While healthcare reform advocates welcome the model, stakeholders emphasize that the CDC must ensure precise resource allocation—including medical staff retention and real-time logistics management for therapeutics and diagnostic tools—to guarantee public health resilience.

Resource:23家「核心照護醫院」上路 強化防疫分級