NHIS Expands Rare Disease Special Case Coverage... Adds 2 Diagnostic Medical Institutions

Designation of Dankook University Hospital and Ulsan University Hospital

The National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) has decided to designate two additional diagnostic medical institutions starting this year to expand the application of special copayment reductions for extremely rare diseases that are difficult to diagnose.

On the 9th, NHIS announced that it has designated Dankook University College of Medicine Hospital and Ulsan University Hospital in Ulsan Metropolitan City as additional diagnostic medical institutions, operating a total of 38 diagnostic medical institutions.

Since 2016, NHIS has designated and operated diagnostic medical institutions eligible for registration under the special copayment reduction system for extremely rare diseases that require high diagnostic difficulty and specialized examinations. The special copayment reduction system reduces the patient's out-of-pocket rate to 5-10% to alleviate the burden of high medical expenses for patients diagnosed with cancer, severe intractable diseases, rare diseases, and others.

In November of last year, NHIS held a public recruitment for new diagnostic medical institutions targeting nine tertiary general hospitals that had not been designated as diagnostic medical institutions.

Lee Sang-il, Executive Director of Benefits, stated, "With this additional designation, specialized institutions capable of timely diagnosing extremely rare diseases in the respective regions have been added, which is expected to alleviate the inconvenience of medical use for patients with these diseases. Going forward, NHIS will continue to expand diagnostic medical institutions to improve medical accessibility for vulnerable populations."

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