Strengthening Patient Safety in Small and Medium-Sized Hospitals... Introduction of "Basic Certification System" for Medical Institutions

Ministry of Health and Welfare to Evaluate 156 Core Items
"Expected to Serve as a Stepping Stone to Acute Care Hospital Certification"

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on December 3 that it will introduce the "Basic Certification System" to certify hospitals that meet essential patient safety requirements, aiming to improve the quality of healthcare. This system targets small and medium-sized hospitals and is scheduled to be implemented in November 2026 after a preparation period of about one year.

Currently, the medical institution certification system includes not only acute care hospital certification for hospitals and higher-level institutions, but also certification for long-term care hospitals, rehabilitation medical institutions, Korean medicine hospitals, and dental hospitals. Including long-term care hospitals, which are required to obtain certification, a total of 1,747 medical institutions-about 41.4% of all eligible facilities-have been certified.

The Basic Certification System aims to encourage improvements in the actual medical services provided by regional small and medium-sized hospitals, and participation is voluntary, similar to the existing acute care hospital certification.

To obtain basic certification, hospitals must undergo an evaluation focusing on 156 core items directly related to patient safety and healthcare quality. The number of evaluation items has been significantly reduced, considering that the existing acute care hospital certification criteria consist of more than 500 items, which has been criticized for favoring large-scale hospitals such as tertiary general hospitals and not reflecting the realities of small and medium-sized hospitals.

The Ministry expects that the introduction of the Basic Certification System will encourage small and medium-sized hospitals to participate in certification and help strengthen the core competencies needed to improve healthcare quality and safety.

This new certification system was finalized on November 21 through the Medical Institution Certification Committee, after collecting feedback from relevant academic societies, associations, institutions, consumer groups, conducting pilot surveys, and gathering public opinions online. Starting in the first half of next year, the Ministry will help medical institutions participate in the basic certification by providing regional briefings, education, and free consulting. In addition, the Ministry plans to continuously support small and medium-sized hospitals that have obtained basic certification so that they can also achieve the acute care hospital certification, which is considered the main certification.

Kim Gookil, Director of Healthcare Policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stated, "We will actively support the Basic Certification System so that it serves as a stepping stone for small and medium-sized hospitals to obtain acute care hospital certification without excessive burden," adding, "We will also expand connections with various government projects and policies to enhance the effectiveness of the system."

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