Ministry of Land and Financial Supervisory Service Inspect Hospitals Nationwide "Crack Down on Fake Patients"

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Financial Supervisory Service announced on the 30th that starting next month, they will conduct a joint public-private inspection over five months by directly visiting about 500 hospitals and clinics nationwide, in cooperation with local governments and the General Insurance Association, to check the management status of traffic accident inpatients.

The joint inspection aims to detect false excessive inpatients (commonly called 'fake patients') who are hospitalized falsely or unnecessarily for long periods to claim insurance money, despite being able to receive outpatient treatment after minor traffic accidents.

The inspection will focus on medical institutions' compliance with obligations to manage records of inpatient absences and outings or overnight stays outside the hospital.

The target medical institutions for inspection will be selected mainly among hospitals and clinics with past violations or high hospitalization rates, including Korean medicine hospitals and clinics where treatment costs have recently surged sharply, as well as those excluded from previous inspections.

According to the joint inspection results, administrative guidance will be provided to hospitals and clinics with minor violations, and a re-inspection will be conducted within three months. If failure to correct the issues is confirmed, fines ranging from a minimum of 1 million KRW to a maximum of 3 million KRW will be imposed.

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