"Doctors and Nurses Visit Your Home"... Gangnam-gu Launches Home Visit Medical Service

Signing of the "Medical Care Home Visit Agreement for Health Vulnerable Groups"

Gangnam-gu, Seoul (District Mayor Jo Seong-myeong) announced on the 14th that it signed a “Public-Private Cooperation Agreement for Home Visit Medical Care for the Medically Vulnerable” with five medical institutions: Seoul 36 Clinic (Chief Director Yoo Eun-sil), 365 Open Family Medicine Clinic (Director Kim Gap-seong), Seoul Yonsei Clinic (Director Shim Hee-soo), Yonsei Rafa Clinic (Director Han Jae-hyeok), and Yonsei Rehabilitation Medicine Clinic (Director Park Seong-jin) on the 13th.

The “Primary Care Home Visit” project introduced by the Ministry of Health and Welfare is a service that allows patients with mobility difficulties to request home visits from local clinics. As aging intensifies, this service can be a great help to elderly people who find it difficult to visit hospitals, but usage has been low due to lack of information.

The public-private partnership home visit medical service agreement ceremony. Provided by Gangnam-gu.

To revitalize this, the district has prepared a plan to establish an integrated care service system linking home visits and the public health center’s visiting nurse health management program. Through this, customized medical care services will be actively provided to the medically vulnerable.

Thirty-nine nurses working at 22 community service centers select elderly residents with mobility difficulties and refer them to medical institutions. Doctors from the contracted clinics visit the elderly patients’ homes to provide medical care directly.

The doctors assess the patient’s health condition and provide tailored care such as blood tests, prescription and medication guidance, injections, management of feeding tubes (nasogastric tubes) and urinary catheters (indwelling catheters), and pressure ulcer treatment.

After the medical visit, community center nurses regularly visit the patients to provide basic health management including blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol measurements. If necessary, they also connect patients to welfare services to ensure integrated care from medical to welfare support.

The service cost requires a co-payment of 5?30% of the total medical fee according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s home visit fee standards (30% for health insurance subscribers, 10% for Medical Aid and second-lowest income bracket, 5% for Medical Aid and lowest income bracket). The home visit fees are 126,900 KRW and 88,280 KRW depending on the type, with additional charges for procedures, medications, and treatment materials calculated separately. Applications and inquiries for home visits can be made to the Health Management Team of the Public Health Center.

District Mayor Jo Seong-myeong stated, “This agreement is meaningful in that it has raised the level of medical care by linking the home visit services of primary medical institutions, which were previously operated individually, with the health management services of visiting nurses.” He added, “In the era of longevity, we will strengthen cooperation with medical institutions to ensure that all residents of the district can enjoy a healthy life.”