To enhance the medical and health care functions of the CMUH and to participate in the education and research of community health, we established in June 1998 the Department of Community Medicine by integrating the Department of Family Medicine, the Section of Community Nursing, the Section of Referral and the Section of Social Work to develop "community health care", "community medical care" and "community long-term care" services after evaluating the community health and integrating the hospital and community resources in order to provide proximate, uninterrupted and integrated medical care for patients and citizens.

We establish good cooperation relationships with nearby hospitals and clinics, including referral, examinations, doctor training, doctor support and academic exchange. We promote the "family doctor system" in cooperation with the public health policy by continually developing the patient-focus health passport in terms of family health management, publicity and health education activities, 24-hour consultation and emergency medical services, referral assistance, homecare, information system design and network connectivity, and quality enhancement activities, in order to spread medical care continually.

To provide better health care service for citizens in Shinyi Township, Nantou County, we introduced the "district OPD" service to the area in July 2000 and offered 24-hour emergency, OPD, specialist and door-to-door medical services, tour medical and health education services in July 2001 by integrating all medical resources within the township. We also reinforced health care volunteered worker service and participated in emergency rescue after typhoons to ensure the uninterrupted medical and health care services for local citizens.

Cooperation with the Bureau of Health Promotion, Department of Health, we have organized Community Health Care Program of the North District of Taichung City since 2000, also furthered a similar program that CMUH integrated it with the group of community hospitals in the Easter Taichung City. The program associated community organizations or societies to conduct the health evaluation of community and the effort of health promotion, such as community health talks, large community events, recruitment and training of community volunteered workers, and promotions of dietary education, sports, health education, stop smoking program, betel-nut prevention, drug safety, weight control and other health issues. Since July 2001 we have launched cooperation with local aging people groups to provide community health care service and organize community health classes as a start of the long-term community health education. We offered free medical service or support for local medical stations coordinating with activities organized by government and community organizations and health education courses according to the needs of local groups. A community health management information system has been implemented to link to the HIS system of the system with warning function to let health management personnel acknowledge the health condition and medical attention record of abnormal cases in the community. This helps in offering appropriate service and enhance the efficiency of health management.