Office-Managed Hospitals Embezzled 3.5 Trillion Won Over 10 Years... "Collected Amount Only 181.7 Billion Won"

The collection rate, which was 17.3% in 2010, fell to 2.5% last year
Assemblyman Kwon Chil-seung: "Strengthening penalties for medical personnel lending their names"

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] It has been revealed that the amount of money illegally taken from the National Health Insurance Corporation over the past 10 years due to over-treatment and false claims by illegally established institutions such as office-head hospitals reached 3.5 trillion KRW. However, the actual amount collected by the NHIC was only 181.7 billion KRW, which is 5.2% of the total.

According to the 'Recent 10-year Detection Status of Office-head Hospitals' submitted by the National Health Insurance Corporation to Kwon Chil-seung, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, as of June this year, a total of 1,615 illegally established institutions were detected from 2010. During the same period, the total amount of medical benefit costs decided for recovery was 3.4863 trillion KRW.

An office-head hospital refers to an institution illegally established and operated under the name of a medical professional (pharmacist) or a non-profit corporation by a person who does not have the qualifications to open a medical institution under the Medical Service Act, by employing medical professionals or pharmacists.

In particular, the amount decided for recovery last year alone reached 947.5 billion KRW, which is 117 times higher compared to 8.1 billion KRW in 2010.

The amounts decided for recovery from illegally established institutions were ▲81 billion KRW in 2010 ▲58.4 billion KRW in 2011 ▲67.5 billion KRW in 2012 ▲135.1 billion KRW in 2013 ▲230.7 billion KRW in 2014 ▲333.1 billion KRW in 2015 ▲418.1 billion KRW in 2016 ▲491.4 billion KRW in 2017 ▲367.2 billion KRW in 2018 ▲947.5 billion KRW in 2019 ▲429.1 billion KRW as of June 2020.

While the amount decided for recovery from illegal establishments generally increased each year, the collection rate decreased. The collection rate, which was 17.3% in 2010, dropped to 2.5% last year.

The average collection rate over the past 10 years was 5.21%, with only 181.7 billion KRW collected out of the 3.4863 trillion KRW decided for recovery. The collection rates were ▲17.3% in 2010 ▲12.3% in 2011 ▲11.6% in 2012 ▲8.1% in 2013 ▲8.4% in 2014 ▲5.8% in 2015 ▲6.8% in 2016 ▲5.0% in 2017 ▲7.7% in 2018 ▲2.5% in 2019 ▲2.6% as of June 2020, showing a general decline.

Rep. Kwon said, "Although the Ministry of Health and Welfare has introduced measures such as strengthening the requirements for establishing medical institutions, it has failed to prevent the leakage of health insurance finances caused by illegal establishments such as office-head hospitals. Since this issue is directly related to the lives and safety of the people, we will promote measures to strengthen administrative sanctions such as suspension or revocation of licenses for medical professionals who lend their names, as well as enhance criminal penalties."

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