Board of Audit and Inspection: "60 Billion and 2.3 Billion Won Government Support Funds for Elder Abuse and Administrative Sanction Long-term Care Hospitals"
Results of Regular Audit of Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service Disclosed
"HIRA Employee Accepted 81 Million KRW in Bribes"
It was confirmed through the Board of Audit and Inspection's audit results that 92 nursing hospitals where elder abuse occurred received government subsidies amounting to 6 billion KRW. Additionally, it was uncovered that an employee in the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) review department provided consulting to a specific hospital and received 81 million KRW in bribes.
On the 25th, the Board of Audit and Inspection disclosed the results of the "Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) regular audit," stating that there were insufficient grounds for administrative sanctions such as penalties when elder abuse occurs in nursing hospitals. They notified the Ministry of Health and Welfare to prepare improvement measures.
According to the Board of Audit and Inspection, although administrative sanctions and cases of elder abuse in nursing hospitals are increasing, there is no basis to reflect administrative sanctions in the evaluation of nursing hospitals when they are penalized. Furthermore, there is no basis for administrative sanctions or reflecting such sanctions in nursing hospital evaluations when elder abuse occurs in nursing hospitals.
Accordingly, 57 nursing hospitals that received administrative sanctions between 2021 and 2022 were paid 2.3 billion KRW in subsidies. During the same period, 92 nursing hospitals where elder abuse occurred received 6.01 billion KRW in subsidies. It was even confirmed that a nursing hospital where a caregiver assaulted a patient causing fractures and splenic rupture received 200 million KRW in subsidies.
An employee of HIRA responsible for reviewing nursing care benefit costs was also caught accepting bribes. Mr. A, a review department manager at HIRA, provided consulting related to review work about 10 times per month at Clinic B located in his jurisdiction from January 2017 to October 2022, receiving between 1 million and 1.2 million KRW monthly as remuneration. Over approximately six years, he accepted a total of 81 million KRW in 82 instances.
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The Board of Audit and Inspection stated, "We have requested the dismissal of the HIRA employee who accepted bribes from the relevant institution," adding, "We urged HIRA to stop selecting abnormal institutions related to inpatient fee reviews, to verify whether selected abnormal institutions have improved their indicators, and to conduct professional reviews. We also notified HIRA to prepare improvement measures as it has been operating the inpatient fee review system inadequately."
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