[2020 National Audit] Hospitals Conduct Research, Universities Earn Money? "A Trick to Reduce Profits"

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] It has been pointed out that a significant number of university hospitals are diverting profits earned from research commissioned by external entities such as the government or corporations to the university's industry-academic cooperation foundation instead of the hospital itself.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Research Foundation to Go Young-in, a member of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee from the Democratic Party, and released on the 7th, out of 76 university hospitals nationwide (including university-affiliated hospitals) last year, 51 showed no revenue related to commissioned research projects in their accounting records. Commissioned research refers to research entrusted by the government, corporations, etc., to develop new treatments or drugs.

Although the research is actually conducted mainly by medical and research staff within the hospital, it is being accounted for separately under the university's industry-academic cooperation foundation to reduce the apparent revenue of the hospital. Samsung Seoul Hospital conducted research on 244 commissioned projects from the government, including 74 projects from the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Despite research funds amounting to 31.3 billion KRW, the commissioned research revenue was recorded as zero. Severance Hospital also conducted research on 7 government-commissioned projects but reported no revenue from them.

The 51 university hospitals with zero commissioned research revenue conducted 412 government-commissioned research projects last year alone, amounting to 52.5 billion KRW. Projects commissioned by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which is the main department responsible for university hospital accounting, accounted for 130 projects, about one-third of the total.

Assemblyman Go Young-in said, "University hospitals claim that hospital management is difficult due to low medical fees, but they may be gaining profits due to flawed criteria in the current system or intentionally engaging in accounting tricks to obtain undue benefits." He added, "We must prevent unfair gains through 'systematic accounting manipulation.'"

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