Starting Next Year, Tertiary Hospitals Must Establish Continuous Inpatient Systems for Pediatrics and Obstetrics-Gynecology

Ministry of Health and Welfare Announces Plan for 5th Term Tertiary General Hospital Designation
Increasing Severe Patient Admission Rate and Introducing 'Mild Case Transfer Rate'

Starting next year, to be designated as a tertiary general hospital, institutions must have a continuous inpatient care system for essential medical departments such as pediatrics and obstetrics and gynecology. The criteria for the proportion of severe patients among inpatients will be raised, and capabilities for critical care, including securing intensive care unit (ICU) and negative pressure isolation rooms, must also be established.

On the 20th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced these standards for the 5th term (2024?2026) tertiary general hospital designation through a briefing session for medical institutions. Additionally, the '5th Term Tertiary General Hospital Designation Plan' will be publicly announced on the 30th.

Tertiary general hospitals are general hospitals that provide specialized, high-level medical services for severe diseases, designated every three years by the Minister of Health and Welfare. Compared to the 4th term (2021?2023), the designation criteria for the 5th term have strengthened indicators related to severe disease treatment and introduced new indicators for enhancing medical resources such as personnel and facilities, as well as for national infectious disease response. This is understood as an effort to encourage tertiary general hospitals to fulfill their core roles in treating severe patients and providing essential medical diagnosis and treatment.

First, to strengthen the severe care function of tertiary general hospitals, the proportion of severe patients among inpatients will be raised from the existing 30% to at least 34%. The full score criterion for relative evaluation was also increased from 44% to 50%. The proportion of mild patients among inpatients and outpatients will be lowered so that hospitals treating more severe patients can receive higher evaluation scores, and a new criterion for mild patient referral rates has been established to encourage the transfer of mild patients to clinics and hospitals. Furthermore, to actively accommodate severe emergency patients and rare disease patients, separate bonus indicators for the proportion of severe emergency diseases and rare disease rates have been newly introduced.

In addition, in response to the need to strengthen critical care capabilities raised during the COVID-19 response, new indicators have been introduced, including ICU bed occupancy rate (full score at 10% or higher), negative pressure isolation room bed occupancy rate (full score at 1.0% or higher), and COVID-19 participation contribution. Also, to improve the quality of inpatient care and patient safety, a new indicator for dedicated inpatient specialists (one per 300 beds) has been created.

In particular, to strengthen essential medical care, pediatrics and obstetrics and gynecology departments must establish a continuous inpatient care system starting from January next year, and their ongoing inpatient care performance will be evaluated. Additionally, four items will be introduced as preliminary evaluation criteria: ▲proportion of severe pediatric emergency patient care ▲proportion of severe emergency patient care ▲final treatment provision rate for severe emergency patients ▲nurse education specialist staffing rate. The preliminary evaluation aims to analyze the current medical status and provide preparation time for medical institutions before these indicators are incorporated into the 6th term evaluation criteria; detailed scoring standards will be decided later.

Medical institutions wishing to be designated as 5th term tertiary general hospitals can apply to the Ministry of Health and Welfare by mail or email throughout July. The Ministry plans to conduct document reviews and on-site inspections of the submitted materials and announce the selections by the end of the year. Lee Hyung-hoon, Director of Health and Medical Policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stated, "We will continue to improve and supplement the designation criteria so that tertiary general hospitals can play a leading role in the community not only in treating severe patients but also in providing essential medical services."

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