"Easy Exchange of Medical Information Between Hospitals"…Revamp of the 'Electronic Medical Record System Certification'

The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Health Information Service announced on the 30th that the 2nd cycle of the 'Electronic Medical Record (EMR) System Certification Program' will be implemented starting next month on the 1st.

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The EMR System Certification Program is a system in which the Minister of Health and Welfare verifies the conformity of EMR systems to standards to ensure the safe and accurate management of patients' medical information and facilitate information exchange between medical institutions, granting certification accordingly. Since June 2020, the Korea Health Information Service has been entrusted with carrying out this task.

Since the establishment of the 1st cycle certification standards, the number of medical institutions using certified EMR systems has significantly increased from 41 to 4,052 as of December 2024. Notably, all 47 advanced general hospitals nationwide have obtained certification.

However, the 1st cycle certification standards required improvement considering changes in the medical environment and the burden on medical institutions in certification tasks, such as the expansion of medical information exchange between institutions to prevent duplicate tests and strengthen continuity of care, guaranteeing patients' rights to view and transmit their medical information, and the increasing demand for medical data utilization in research and development (R&D).

Accordingly, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Health Information Service strengthened certification standards related to medical information standardization and interoperability necessary for information linkage between different EMR systems, and to reduce the burden on medical institutions, they integrated and simplified similar indicators in the certification standards. After announcing the draft of the 2nd cycle certification standards, they conducted pilot projects in medical settings for verification. Subsequently, through expert discussions in the medical and security fields on the certification draft and pilot results, the 6th Certification Committee finalized and approved the 2nd cycle certification standards on the 16th.

Accordingly, ▲ the new certification indicators have been integrated and simplified from 90 to 59, ▲ a reference standard for standard management such as medical terminology and transmission standards has been newly established, and ▲ interoperability standards between EMR systems have been strengthened to expand medical information exchange and the 'Health Information Highway' service.

Ko Hyung-woo, Director of Advanced Medical Support at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stated, "EMR systems are a core element for patient safety and improving the quality of medical services, as well as indispensable for collecting and utilizing data necessary for the development of advanced medical technologies and treatments in the future. Through the implementation of the 2nd cycle certification program, we will strengthen the foundation for the creation, sharing, and utilization of standardized medical information so that both patients and medical institutions can benefit in the long term."

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