Government: "Vascular Stent Procedure Fees Doubled... '1.5x Compensation' for Expanded Emergency Procedures"

"Strengthening Compensation for Interventional Procedures in Severe Heart Disease"

The government announced on the 29th that it will double the fees for vascular stent procedures by strengthening compensation for essential medical care.

Cho Kyu-hong, Minister of Health and Welfare, said at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH) meeting held at the government Sejong Complex that day, "The government has promised to make compensation for essential medical care more equitable as one of the four major tasks of medical reform," adding, "Since cardiovascular intervention is a representative essential medical field that must be urgently performed for severe heart disease patients such as acute myocardial infarction, we will strengthen compensation for it."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The government decided to expand the number of vessels recognized in cardiovascular intervention and increase the compensation level so that the medical difficulty and resource consumption can be reasonably reflected in the fees.

For example, when a stent insertion procedure is performed on four vessels at a tertiary general hospital, the procedure fee will be increased by more than twice the current rate.

In addition, the government plans to expand the scope of "emergency procedures," which apply a 1.5 times fee compared to general procedures, to better fit clinical settings so that medical staff who frequently perform emergency or on-call procedures receive fair compensation.

Minister Cho said, "We will continue to strengthen compensation for high-risk and high-difficulty essential medical care such as cerebrovascular diseases and organ transplants."

The government plans to hold the second meeting of the Medical Reform Special Committee, launched last week, next week to continue detailed discussions.

Minister Cho said, "We will actively support the Special Committee so that it can fulfill its role as a social consultative body that discusses urgent issues in health care and draws a blueprint."