Assemblyman Seodongyong, 590 Million Won in Refunds for Improper Billing

Seoul National University Hospital Tops Refund Amounts Among National University Hospitals

Calls for Measures Ignored as Unfair Billing Practices Persist

It has been revealed that national university hospitals, which are supposed to provide reliable medical services at reasonable prices to promote public health, have continuously gained unfair profits.

Despite demands for countermeasures and prevention of recurrence, it was confirmed that 10 national university hospitals improperly charged patients for medical fees over five years and refunded a total amount of 597.1 million KRW.

Seo Dong-yong, a member of the National Assembly’s Education Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea (Jeonnam Suncheon Gwangyang Gokseong Gurye (Eul) district), analyzed the “National University Hospital Medical Fee Verification Refund Status” received from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) and pointed out that among the 10 national university hospitals, Seoul National University Hospital had the highest amount of refunds for improper medical fee claims from 2019 to July 2023, totaling 205.79 million KRW (348 cases).

The national university hospitals with the next highest refund amounts for improper claims were Busan National University Hospital (155.59 million KRW, 221 cases), Chungnam National University Hospital (63.69 million KRW, 167 cases), and others.

By refund type, the largest amount was for “processing health insurance-covered medical fees as non-covered fees” arbitrarily by hospitals, totaling 435.77 million KRW, followed by “processing items that cannot be separately calculated as non-covered fees” at 143.57 million KRW, excessive charges for superior hospital rooms at 5.87 million KRW, and excessive charges for selective medical treatment fees at 1.87 million KRW.

Since the “Medical Fee Verification Service” provided by HIRA can only be accessed upon direct request by patients, the actual number and amount of improper medical fee claims are expected to be higher.

Assemblyman Seo Dong-yong stated, “Despite the provision of medical guidance services using smartphones, unfair profit-taking by national university hospitals continues due to insufficient promotion,” and added, “Related agencies such as HIRA and the Ministry of Health and Welfare must establish more effective measures to eradicate improper medical fee claims.”

He also emphasized, “As national university hospitals are public medical institutions operated based on public trust, they must reduce unfair profits and provide high-quality medical services at reasonable prices to promote the health of the people.”

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