Developing Specialized Hospitals for 'Essential Medical Care' Such as Burn Treatment, Replantation, and Childbirth... Secondary Hospital Structural Transformation

"Uniform Additional System Reformed into Performance-Based Rewards by Type"
Primary Care Institutions Adopt 'Juchui' Concept for Patient Management

The government is fostering 'hub general hospitals' that can comprehensively respond to regional medical demands. It will focus investments on specialized hospitals responsible for essential medical fields such as burns, finger replantation, and childbirth.

On the 30th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare held a 'Discussion on the Development of Regional Hospitals and Activation of Primary Care' at the Seoul Gangwon Regional Headquarters of the National Health Insurance Service in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, and announced plans for restructuring secondary hospitals and clinics. This is part of the secondary medical reform implementation plan scheduled to be announced next month.

The government’s policy is to strengthen general hospitals and hospitals, which serve as the 'waist' of the medical delivery system, in line with the transition of tertiary general hospitals to focus on severe, emergency, and rare diseases. To this end, the functions of secondary hospitals will be redefined, and a corresponding compensation system will be established. The plan is to develop 'hub general hospitals' that can comprehensively meet regional medical demands by increasing appropriate disease fees for these hospitals and supporting 24-hour medical services.

There will also be concentrated investment in specialized hospitals responsible for specific essential medical fields such as burns, finger replantation, and childbirth. Even secondary hospitals that receive excellent evaluations in specialized fields will be compensated at a higher rate comparable to tertiary general hospitals for severe care. Hospitals capable of 24-hour surgery and hospitalization will be recognized as emergency centers for the relevant diseases and will be eligible for emergency fee compensation.

Clinic-level institutions will be developed as 'functional primary care institutions' responsible for integrated management of local patients. As the number of chronic disease patients increases due to aging, the role of clinics will be strengthened to continuously manage patients in the community with the concept of a 'primary care physician.'

Compensation for medical institutions will shift significantly from the current uniform classification-based additional payment system to performance-based rewards according to detailed outcomes. Currently, additional payments are set by classification, such as 15% for tertiary general hospitals, 10% for general hospitals, and 5% for hospitals. There are no separate evaluation criteria for capable specialized hospitals.

Going forward, a functional performance evaluation system will be introduced based on severe cases, secondary comprehensive care, specialized care in specific fields, and primary care. Institutions achieving the highest level of performance according to their roles and types will receive top-tier evaluations and compensation.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare also plans to continue scientific cost analysis to normalize compensation for undervalued surgeries and procedures, adjust overvalued compensations such as for specimens, and establish a fair compensation system.

Park Min-su, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stated, "We plan to identify and support hospital-level medical institutions that can comprehensively meet regional medical demands and handle severe emergency functions. We will eliminate low fees for essential medical services and continuously work to establish an appropriate compensation system to support the normalization of the medical delivery system, reforming the payment system based on value and performance."

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