Respiratory Clinic, Medical Consultation Center... Eight Different Names for COVID-19 Response Institutions, What Are the Differences?

Be Cautious as Medical Institutions Offering Telemedicine and Rapid Antigen Testing May Differ

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[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] Since the rapid antigen testing was fully implemented on the 3rd and the home treatment system changed on the 10th, the types of medical institutions responding to COVID-19 have increased. These include ▲National Safe Hospitals ▲COVID-19 Dedicated Base Hospitals ▲Telephone Consultation and Prescription Local Clinics ▲Outpatient Treatment Centers ▲Home Treatment Medical Consultation Centers - Administrative Guidance Centers ▲Respiratory Dedicated Clinics ▲Respiratory Treatment Designated Medical Institutions ▲Home Treatment Management Medical Institutions. Some duties overlap between institutions, and some hospitals have been designated as multiple types of institutions. The names and roles of these institutions are summarized below.

Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak

National Safe Hospitals and Dedicated Base Hospitals were established at the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak and the system is now well established. National Safe Hospitals are hospital-level or higher medical institutions that separate respiratory patients from general patients to safely protect patients from in-hospital infections. They were also operated during the 2016 MERS outbreak.

COVID-19 Dedicated Base Hospitals are medical institutions that have significantly increased their COVID-19 response capacity with government support. They focus on treating critically ill and high-risk patients, and some use all their beds exclusively for COVID-19 patients.

Telephone and Outpatient Treatment for Home Treatment Patients Here

From the 10th, general management group home treatment patients, excluding the intensive management group such as those aged 50 and over with underlying conditions and those aged 60 and over, can directly call medical institutions without separate monitoring to receive treatment and prescriptions. The general management group can have telephone consultations at telephone consultation and prescription local clinics, some respiratory dedicated clinics and respiratory treatment designated medical institutions, and home treatment medical consultation centers. The intensive management group receives monitoring twice a day from home treatment management medical institutions.

Telephone consultation and prescription local clinics are local medical institutions participating in non-face-to-face treatment for home treatment patients, which started on the 10th. These hospitals only apply for 'telephone treatment' regardless of whether rapid antigen testing or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing is available.

Home treatment medical consultation centers operated by local governments have been running since the 10th to cover areas where there are no local clinics capable of non-face-to-face treatment nearby or to prepare for pediatric and adolescent patients and nighttime treatment situations. Nurses and doctors are on duty 24 hours to handle telephone consultations and prescriptions for home treatment patients. To allow medical consultation centers to focus on their core duties, local governments separately operate home treatment administrative guidance centers that handle administrative inquiries such as self-quarantine.

COVID-19 outpatient treatment centers are prepared for cases where home treatment patients need prescriptions for underlying diseases or when it is difficult to assess symptoms through non-face-to-face treatment. Home treatment patients can visit directly without separate reporting. These centers can perform testing, treatment, surgery, and short-term hospitalization for confirmed COVID-19 patients, and administer the COVID-19 antibody treatment 'Rekkirona.'

Rapid Antigen Testing at Respiratory Dedicated Clinics and Respiratory Treatment Designated Medical Institutions

Respiratory dedicated clinics and respiratory treatment designated medical institutions have been responsible for rapid antigen testing since the 3rd. Respiratory dedicated clinics have been promoted by the government since 2020 to prepare for the prolonged COVID-19 outbreak and are equipped with safe environments such as negative pressure facilities to prevent infection.

Respiratory treatment designated medical institutions are local clinics that newly started rapid antigen testing on the 3rd as part of the Omicron response testing system reorganization. Respiratory dedicated clinics conduct PCR testing, but many designated medical institutions do not perform PCR tests, so prior confirmation is necessary.

Telephone treatment for general management group home treatment patients is also possible at some respiratory dedicated clinics and designated medical institutions. The quarantine authorities plan to enable linkage to non-face-to-face treatment for all respiratory dedicated clinics and designated medical institutions when a positive diagnosis is confirmed after testing.

The list of these medical institutions can be checked on the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service and Ministry of Health and Welfare websites.

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