21 Research-Centric Hospitals Including Seoul National University and Severance Confirmed in First Certification Round

On the 26th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that 21 medical institutions, including Seoul National University Hospital, Severance Hospital, Samsung Seoul Hospital, and Seoul Asan Hospital, were confirmed as the first phase research-oriented hospitals through certification evaluation. The certification period is three years, from April this year to March 2028.

The research-oriented hospital system was first introduced in 2013 to promote research and development (R&D) and technology commercialization in the biohealth sector. Since then, as the demand for biohealth technology has increased and the industry has developed, the related law was amended last year to change from a designation system to a certification system to spread the research culture.

A total of 30 medical institutions participated in this certification evaluation, including 10 research-oriented hospitals that had been operating under the previous designation system. All 10 previously designated hospitals passed the certification evaluation, and 11 new medical institutions were added.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare conducted a thorough review over about three months, divided into a first-stage basic competency evaluation and a second-stage research competency quality evaluation. In particular, they focused on whether the institutions had ▲a global-level research system and personnel ▲a sustainable research support governance ▲capabilities to conduct translational and clinical research ▲and competitiveness in specialized key research fields, followed by a review by the Health and Medical Technology Policy Deliberation Committee on the 19th.

The Ministry plans to establish the certification system early by periodically managing the performance of certified research-oriented hospitals and support more medical institutions to have their research capabilities recognized. To this end, they will analyze future certification evaluation results to enhance the reliability of system operation and continuously strive to secure R&D budgets for research-oriented hospitals.

Jung Eun-young, Director of the Health Industry Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said, "As the number of research-oriented hospitals increases, the balance between treatment and research will strengthen the hospital environment, and excellent biohealth outcomes are expected to be rapidly produced based on the hospitals."

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