Standardization of Medical Data: 'Health Information Highway' to Be Fully Launched in the Second Half of the Year... "Access and Use Anytime, Anywhere When Needed"

The government will actively promote the 'Health Information Highway' project, which standardizes and provides medical data scattered across various institutions, starting in the second half of this year. It has also decided to adopt international standards for the standardization of health and medical data.

Park Min-su, the 2nd Vice Minister of Health and Welfare, is presiding over the Health and Medical Data Policy Deliberation Committee on the 9th.
[Photo by Ministry of Health and Welfare]

On the afternoon of the 9th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare held the '2023 Health and Medical Data Policy Deliberation Committee' chaired by Deputy Minister Park Min-su to discuss this agenda.

The government will first push forward the construction of the 'Health Information Highway' project in the second half of the year. The Health Information Highway is a platform that provides standardized medical data from various institutions to individuals and allows them to transmit data to desired locations based on their consent. Through this, individuals will be able to send their data to preferred medical institutions for use. Following a preliminary verification with 245 medical institutions last year, about 600 additional medical institutions will be connected to the platform in the second half of this year, providing medical information on 12 standardized data items.

In addition, medical information held by the National Health Insurance Service, Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, and Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency will be additionally provided in connection with the Health Information Highway. The personal medical information provided through the Health Information Highway can be viewed and saved via the 'My Health Record App' installed on mobile phones, and when receiving medical treatment, individuals can directly share their information with medical staff in a viewer format. Furthermore, the government plans to establish a legal basis to allow direct transmission of information to third parties outside medical institutions upon individual consent, and to prepare various utilization plans such as public institution linkage services based on the Health Information Highway.

Along with this, the government will reorganize the health and medical data standard notification to facilitate the exchange and transmission of medical data between medical institutions. The current health and medical data standards, which are centered on medical terminology, will be changed to focus on ensuring data interoperability. To this end, core exchange data will be defined according to the data utilization environment, and the 'Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR)' international transmission technical standard will be introduced to enhance interoperability as part of the standardization strategy.

Deputy Minister Park Min-su emphasized, "The core value of digital healthcare is the health promotion of patients, families, and ultimately all citizens," adding, "We will create a digital health and medical environment where citizens can check and utilize health information anytime and anywhere when needed."