The Korean Medical Association Forms Negotiation and Advisory Teams for Outpatient Type Medical Care Benefit Cost Contracts

"Expectations for Appropriate Fees Considering the Role and Importance of Clinic-Level Medical Institutions"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] The Korean Medical Association announced on the 30th that it has formed a negotiation team and advisory group in preparation for the 2023 contract on medical service fees for clinic-type institutions and held the first meeting.

Since last year, the KMA has been proceeding by forming a negotiation team (including an advisory group) related to the medical service fee contract through the resolution of the Standing Board of Directors and delegating the negotiation authority to the actual party, the Korean Association of Private Medical Practitioners (Daegae-hyeop).

In Daegae-hyeop, the medical service fee contract negotiation team was composed of four members, the same as last year: Kim Dong-seok, President of the Korean Association of Private Medical Practitioners (Team Leader), Jwa Hoon-jung, President of the Korean General Practitioners Association, Kang Chang-won, Vice President of Insurance of the Korean Internal Medicine Association, and Cho Jeong-ho, Insurance Director of the Korean Medical Association. The advisory group consists of nine members recommended by two members from the provincial medical associations, two from the delegates’ council, two from the private practitioners’ association, and three from the research institute.

The KMA stated that as the role and importance of clinic-level medical institutions were further highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic?playing a major role in rapidly increasing vaccination rates and treating hundreds of thousands of home care patients?it is essential to secure appropriate fees that allow clinic-level medical institutions to operate in order to protect the public’s right to health during infectious disease crises.

Kim Dong-seok, head of the fee negotiation team, said, “Before starting negotiations with the National Health Insurance Service, we will work together with advisory group members recommended by each medical field to prepare objective data reflecting the difficult reality of clinic-level medical institutions. Since the negotiation team is composed the same as last year, we will do our best to achieve a reasonable negotiation result based on last year’s experience.”