Ministry of Health and Welfare Protects Golden Time for Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Diseases... Establishes Human Network

Announcement of the 2nd Comprehensive Plan for Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease Management

Patient A (63), who had uncontrolled hypertension, visited a private hospital due to severe chest pain. He was told that he needed emergency surgery as aortic dissection was suspected. The 119 emergency medical service contacted several hospitals but could not find any with available intensive care units and on-duty thoracic surgeons. After two hours of being transferred from one emergency room to another, Patient A ultimately died.

Going forward, a human network will enable effective response to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular emergency patients. The human network is a medical system that provides timely and appropriate treatment services through rapid decision-making regarding the admission and transfer of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular patients. Through the network, quick decisions on treatment provision can be made, shortening emergency medical stages and preserving the golden time for treatment.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, and other related ministries announced the 2nd Comprehensive Plan for Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease Management (2023?2027) on the 31st, following discussions at the 27th National Policy Issues Ministerial Meeting chaired by the Prime Minister. The comprehensive plan is formulated every five years.

Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases include acute myocardial infarction, cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, and other diseases affecting the heart and brain blood vessels. They rank second among causes of death in South Korea, following cancer. The annual number of patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases is approximately 2.9 million, with annual medical expenses nearing 7 trillion won. The number of patients continues to increase due to population aging. Severe cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases have a high fatality rate, but timely treatment within the golden time can prevent death.

The comprehensive plan sets the vision of "A healthy daily life without worries about cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases anywhere, 24 hours a day," focusing on severe and emergency treatment response. To achieve this, goals include establishing rapid pathways for severe and emergency cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease resolution, linking medical resources and infrastructure, building a patient-centered comprehensive management system, and implementing evidence-based policies.

First, a patient-centered medical utilization system will be secured. The government operates the Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease Information Center. Every three years, it analyzes the medical utilization areas (medical service zones) for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, reflecting current medical usage and hospital changes, and provides maps showing treatment hospitals accessible within the golden time from patients’ residential areas in an easy-to-understand format. The "Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease Medical Utilization Map" will be provided to 119 emergency medical services and emergency medical institutions nationwide and used for education to help understand patient medical utilization flows and trends in treatment resource changes. Additionally, next year, a hotline for high-risk patients will be operated through regional and local cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease centers. It will guide optimal medical utilization routes within the golden time, including rapid hospital visit decisions and public transport support upon hospital arrival.

A treatment response system for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases will also be secured. The 14 regional cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease centers currently designated nationwide will be reorganized into integrated hub institutions with comprehensive specialized treatment capabilities in both internal medicine and surgery, covering the entire disease cycle (prevention, treatment, management). To this end, evaluations including treatment capability standards will be conducted every three years to determine re-designation. Regions with weak medical infrastructure will be designated as developmental regional centers based on decisions by the Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease Management Committee.

A human network for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases will be introduced to support a cooperative treatment system among specialists with treatment capabilities. The specialist network team will be formed regardless of affiliation, aiming to reduce response time for severe and emergency cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. The network will consist of at least seven specialists from different medical institutions within a reachable range during the golden time for diseases such as acute myocardial infarction, stroke, and aortic dissection, categorized by disease and treatment method. When decisions by specialists with treatment capabilities are made swiftly, emergency medical stages can be shortened, and securing emergency beds can alleviate the problem of emergency medical institutions refusing patients. The human network project will be promoted as a pilot project under the health insurance system, introducing a new team-based compensation system. Detailed project guidelines, announcements of participating institutions, and selections will be conducted, with the pilot project scheduled to start in January next year.

Furthermore, community-based prevention and management projects will be strengthened. The hypertension and diabetes registration management project areas (currently 19) will be expanded. Comprehensive patient-centered management for chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia will also be promoted. Customized health counseling will be provided to individuals with health risk factors identified through screenings. To strengthen management of complex chronic diseases, expansion of dyslipidemia testing within the national health screening program will be considered. High-risk occupational groups for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases will receive specialized health screenings (carotid ultrasound, electrocardiogram, etc.) and health management programs, and health management technical support will be enhanced for vulnerable workplaces (fewer than 50 employees, night shifts, etc.) with potential exposure to occupational diseases.

A nationally approved statistical production system for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases will be established, producing national and regional statistics. Research and development covering the entire cycle of prevention, treatment, and management of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases will be expanded. Development of screening tools, management indicators, and risk assessment tools for identifying high-risk groups will be promoted. The establishment of the National Cardiovascular Research Institute under the National Institute of Health is also planned.

Policy coordination and cooperation between central and local governments will be strengthened. To support policies based on clinical leadership, a Central Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease Center will be introduced to establish a cooperative central-regional-local delivery system for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. The central center’s designation plan will be established in the second half of this year and is scheduled to operate from next year.

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