Number of Local Clinics Increased by 0.5%... Initial and Follow-up Consultation Fees Up 4%
Number of Hospitals Increased by 1.2%... Expansion of Nighttime and Emergency Medical Service Surcharges
The government decided to increase compensation for essential medical services by 150% instead of applying a uniform increase rate to fees (medical charges) for medical practices in clinics and hospitals. Additionally, to prevent the phenomenon where clinic-level fees surpass hospital-level fees, the increase rate for clinics will be relatively lowered.
On the 24th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare held the 15th Health Insurance Policy Deliberation Committee (HIPDC) meeting and approved the proposal for the conversion factor for clinics and hospitals.
The fees paid by the government to medical institutions from health insurance finances are determined by multiplying the 'relative value score' assigned to each medical practice by the 'conversion factor.' The conversion factor is negotiated annually by the National Health Insurance Corporation with seven medical organizations, including hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and Korean medicine clinics, to decide the increase rate. At the end of May, the increase rates for the conversion factor for dental clinics, Korean medicine clinics, pharmacies, and midwives for the next year were settled first, and the previously unresolved negotiations for clinics and hospitals were approved at this HIPDC meeting.
During the meeting, the HIPDC focused on strengthening compensation for undervalued items when deciding the conversion factors for hospitals and clinics. This is because uniformly increasing the conversion factor as before causes overvalued practices to receive larger increases and undervalued practices to receive relatively smaller increases, leading to distortions in some fee systems.
Accordingly, the government decided to efficiently allocate the budget intended for increasing the conversion factor for hospitals and clinics by focusing on raising undervalued items. The fees for local clinics will increase by 0.5%, and the consultation fees for initial and follow-up visits in the relative value category will each increase by 4%.
Hospital fees will increase by 1.2%, and the night and holiday surcharges for surgery, treatment, and anesthesia fees reflected in the relative value scores will be expanded from 50% to 100%. The surcharge for emergency medical practices performed in hospital emergency rooms will also be expanded from 50% to 150%, and the Saturday surcharge previously applied only to clinics will now be applicable.
Park Min-su, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stated, "It is meaningful that we have taken the first step toward a rational fee system by linking the two pillars of fees: the conversion factor and relative value. We will fundamentally review the fee system reform to ensure the expansion of essential and community medical services based on fair and rational compensation, including focused compensation for undervalued practices."
The conversion factors and relative value score adjustment plans for clinics and hospitals decided at the HIPDC will be finalized through amendments to the Ministry of Health and Welfare's official notices.
Meanwhile, the HIPDC also approved the extension of the 'Emergency Medical System Health Insurance Support Plan' and decided to allocate approximately 189 billion KRW from health insurance finances. Since February 20, the Ministry of Health and Welfare has been injecting health insurance funds into emergency medical services to respond to medical service gaps.
Vice Minister Park said, "We will actively support emergency and severe patient care without any service gaps through prompt support of temporary emergency medical fees and on-site inspections."
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