South Korea will elevate medical service charges for important procedures and surgical procedures and cut back massive hospitals’ dependence on junior medical doctors as a part of a medical reform bundle launched amid a protracted medical confrontation between the federal government and medical doctors over the quota enlargement of medical faculties.
Noh Yun-hong, who chairs the presidential particular committee on medical reform, stated Friday that the federal government would push ahead in creating “physician-centered hospitals” nationwide to cut back their dependence on interns and residents in affected person care.
To take action, the federal government plans to inject 400 billion gained ($300 million) a yr over the following 5 years to considerably enhance paychecks for each junior medical doctors and the physicians who prepare them.
Whereas reducing down working hours for junior medical doctors, they are going to get coaching charges of as much as 12 million gained a yr in the event that they specialise in important medical fields. These embrace inside medication, surgical procedure, emergency medication and cardiovascular and thoracic surgical procedure.
Junior medical doctors in tertiary basic hospitals can have a doctor supervising their coaching packages in order that they study scientific abilities underneath their course. The federal government plans to pay as much as 80 million gained every for physicians supervising junior medical doctors.
Geared toward rewarding physicians for high quality and worth, the federal government stated by 2027 it could elevate medical service charges — the charges charged by well being care suppliers for medical companies rendered — for 3,000 complicated however important medical companies that have been typically undervalued, as in comparison with beauty procedures not lined by the state insurance coverage.
The rise will apply to extreme companies reminiscent of mind and pancreatic most cancers surgical procedures and will probably be applied upon approval from the medical insurance coverage deliberation committee.
On the similar time, the federal government can have hospitals reducing the proportion of junior medical doctors within the workforce from 40 to twenty % within the subsequent three years, whereas restructuring the administration operations by changing the posts with physicians and doctor assistant nurses.
As an alternative, the federal government plans to implement a brand new coaching system subsequent yr the place junior medical doctors can acquire scientific expertise and deal with sufferers starting from nonurgent to severely essential at cooperative medical establishments or secondary well being care services. At the moment, practically 70 % of junior medical doctors obtain coaching at tertiary basic hospitals, principally seeing sufferers with extreme and sophisticated sicknesses, based on the Well being Ministry.
The medical circle, nonetheless, is criticizing the plan as a scheme that “lowers junior medical doctors’ alternatives” for pedagogical coaching, growing their scientific abilities and gaining expertise by seeing numerous sufferers at large hospitals — all obligatory to develop into specialised physicians.
Additionally, via a pilot program in 2025, the federal government will reduce junior medical doctors’ steady obligation intervals to 24 hours from the present 36 hours and restrict weekly working hours to 72 hours. By 2031, officers plan to cut back weekly work hours to 60.
In step with the change, basic beds in tertiary basic hospitals will probably be decreased by as much as 15 %, and the proportion of intensive care items will probably be elevated to over 50 %, permitting medical establishments to focus extra on sufferers in want of speedy and significant care. Nonurgent sufferers or these with delicate sicknesses can go to native clinics or neighborhood hospitals.
As well as, the federal government is mulling whether or not to require medical establishments to get the well being minister’s approval when constructing a basic hospital with greater than 100 beds.
“As society is ready to switch to a superaged society in the course of a medical disaster the place regional and important well being care is collapsing, now could be the final alternative for change in Korea,” Noh informed reporters at a briefing, stressing that seismic change in well being care was “inevitable.”
The federal government left room for doable compromise with the medical neighborhood over the variety of new medical doctors, because it plans to launch a brand new consultative physique this yr to research the precise quantity for the longer term well being care workforce wanted in step with demographic change.
Well being Minister Cho Kyoo-hong famous that discussions in regards to the applicable enhance in medical college admissions are “negotiable” with the medical sector provided that it floats a “affordable proposal.”
Nevertheless, the Korean Medical Affiliation — the most important medical doctors’ group right here — instantly turned down the supply, countering that the federal government is participating in “misleading habits.”
The committee additionally plans to ascertain the Medical Workforce Provide and Demand Forecasting Middle underneath the Korea Institute for Well being and Social Affairs subsequent yr to foretell the longer term provide and demand of medical professionals.
The committee anticipates increasing the middle’s function right into a complete and specialised company that might assist broader well being care workforce administration and planning insurance policies, just like the US Well being Sources and Companies Administration.