Patient Safety Incident Survey Also Examines Incident Scale and Characteristics

Partial Amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Patient Safety Act Approved at the Cabinet Meeting

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] In the future, patient safety accident surveys will include not only the scale of accident occurrences but also details on accident types, locations, severity, and preventability.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that the partial amendment to the 'Patient Safety Act Enforcement Decree,' which includes necessary provisions for investigating patient safety accident conditions, was approved at the Cabinet meeting on the 21st.

This amendment was prepared to specify detailed matters following the revision of the 'Patient Safety Act,' which aims to strengthen the patient safety management system, including conducting patient safety accident surveys and establishing a Central Patient Safety Center.

The amendment requires that patient safety accident surveys include information related to the scale and characteristics of accidents. It also stipulates that surveys can be conducted by commissioning specialized research institutions, organizations, or relevant experts. In particular, if additional investigations are needed due to social and environmental changes related to patient safety, temporary surveys can be conducted to supplement the content.

The Medical Institution Evaluation and Certification Institute, a non-profit corporation aimed at patient safety activities, can be designated as the 'Central Patient Safety Center.' Additionally, when medical institutions report the deployment status of dedicated patient safety personnel to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, administrative information can be used to verify qualifications.

The amendment also added institutions such as the National Health Insurance Service and the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service as entities from which the Minister of Health and Welfare can request patient safety accident-related data.

Oh Chang-hyun, Director of the Medical Institution Policy Division at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said, "We have established an institutional foundation to investigate accident conditions at the national level," and added, "Based on this, more systematic patient safety policies can be developed."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.