Initiating Evaluation for Emergency Medical Institution Designation: "Strengthening Emergency Care Capabilities for Critical Patients"

Ministry of Health and Welfare to Expand Regional Emergency Medical Centers to Up to 60

The government has begun the re-designation process to select the medical institutions that will serve as the core pillars of Korea's emergency medical system for the next three years. Moving beyond simple criteria such as facilities and personnel, the government plans to focus on thoroughly assessing the backup treatment capabilities that enable the actual care of critical patients, with the goal of establishing an emergency medical delivery system centered on severity.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on April 15 the “2026 Emergency Medical Institution Re-designation Plan,” which will select medical institutions to be designated as emergency medical institutions from 2026 to 2029. The ministry said it will accept applications from each medical institution and begin evaluations starting next month.

The emergency medical institution re-designation system is conducted every three years to strengthen the capabilities of emergency medical institutions and improve the quality of emergency medical services. Introduced in 2015, this marks the third implementation. Originally, evaluations for the 2026 re-designation were to be completed by last year, but the schedule was delayed to reduce the burden on medical facilities due to the operation of the emergency care system from 2024 to 2025.

The institutions subject to re-designation include all currently operating Regional Emergency Medical Centers, Local Emergency Medical Centers, Local Emergency Medical Institutions, and Pediatric Emergency Medical Centers. To be designated as each type of emergency medical institution, they must meet all criteria set forth in the Enforcement Rules of the Emergency Medical Services Act.

Starting with this evaluation, Regional and Local Emergency Medical Centers will be assessed not only on staffing, facilities, and equipment, but also on whether they have sufficient treatment capabilities in the emergency room and subsequent medical care at the institution. Through this, the government aims to establish a treatment capability-focused emergency medical delivery system so that critically ill emergency patients can receive timely emergency medical services.

Additionally, to strengthen the emergency medical response infrastructure for critically ill patients, the number of designated Regional Emergency Medical Centers will be expanded from the current 44 to up to approximately 60. This expansion will be pursued by considering factors such as utilization rates of emergency medical institutions within each region, regional demand for emergency medical services, and the capabilities of local medical institutions, based on six major regions: Seoul-Incheon, Gyeonggi-Gangwon, Daejeon-Chungcheong, Gwangju-Jeolla, Daegu-Gyeongbuk, and Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam.

The re-designation process will begin with applications for Regional Emergency Medical Center designation by May 14, followed by applications for Local Emergency Medical Centers and Specialized Emergency Medical Centers (by July 22), and Local Emergency Medical Institutions (by September 11). The institutions selected through this process will maintain their emergency medical institution status for three years, from November 1, 2026, to October 31, 2029. Designated emergency medical institutions will receive evaluation-based subsidies ranging from at least 30 million won to up to 600 million won per year, and emergency medical service fees under the national health insurance system will also be differentially supported.

Lee Joonggyu, Director of Public Health Policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stated, “This re-designation of emergency medical institutions will serve as an opportunity to build a severity-centered emergency medical delivery system and enhance the response capabilities of each emergency medical institution for critically ill patients.” He also urged, “To sufficiently achieve qualitative improvements that protect the lives and health of the people, we ask for the active cooperation of medical institutions and local governments.”

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