Establishing a Public-Private Cooperative System...
Business Agreements Signed with 21 Medical Institutions
Up to 12 Home Visits and 50,000 KRW per Visit Supported for Low-Income Residents with Mobility Difficulties
Jungnang-gu (District Mayor Ryu Kyung-gi) is set to actively promote the '2025 Support Project for Activating the Primary Care Physician System for Home Visit Medical Care for Medically Vulnerable Patients' to eliminate medical blind spots.
This project was prepared in response to the increasing number of health-vulnerable groups entering a super-aged society. It aims to provide home visit medical services to low-income residents with mobility difficulties and support their out-of-pocket expenses for home visits, enabling residents to more easily access home medical care services and activating home visit medical care by medical institutions.
To this end, on March 27, the district signed business agreements with a total of 21 medical institutions, including three hospitals?Seoul Medical Center, Northern Hospital, and Green Hospital?seven clinics, and eleven Korean medicine clinics, establishing a public-private cooperative system for home visit medical services.
This project supports low-income residents such as basic livelihood security recipients and near-poverty groups who have difficulty visiting hospitals due to illness, injury, or disability, by covering up to 50,000 KRW per visit for a maximum of 12 visits annually for home visit medical care out-of-pocket expenses. Services can be directly applied for at selected medical institutions, prioritizing primary medical institutions (clinics and Korean medicine clinics), and if necessary, linking to secondary medical institutions such as hospitals. Participating medical institutions are involved in identifying eligible patients, evaluating the appropriateness of care, providing home visit medical services, and follow-up management, while the Jungnang-gu Public Health Center oversees project operation, monitoring, and out-of-pocket expense support.
This project holds great significance as it is led by local governments forming a public-private cooperative system, addressing limitations such as difficulty in identifying eligible patients, lack of publicity, and low participation rates of medical institutions seen in the existing home medical care pilot projects conducted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Considering that health management services at public health centers have been mainly focused on health consultations with limited therapeutic interventions, this project appears to provide a practical opportunity to expand medical welfare in the local community.
Ryu Kyung-gi, Mayor of Jungnang-gu, stated, "This support project to activate the primary care physician system for home visit medical care will be an important foundation where the public and private sectors join forces to practically assist medically vulnerable groups." He added, "We will continue to do our best to establish a community-integrated care system so that all residents can enjoy a healthy life."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
