Improvement of the Medical Record Storage System for Closed or Suspended Medical Institutions

Ministry of Health and Welfare and Korea Health Information Service
to Expand Online Issuance of Medical Record Copies

The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Health Information Service announced on February 3 that they will improve the medical record storage system for closed or suspended medical institutions, so that people can more conveniently access their own medical records even if their hospital shuts down.

The medical record storage system for closed or suspended medical institutions is a system in which the government safely stores medical records even after a hospital closes, allowing individuals to view or obtain copies of their records when needed. Since the service officially launched on July 21 last year, it has stored the medical records of approximately 700 medical institutions and supported the issuance of about 30,000 copies of medical records to date.

Until now, the medical record storage system was mainly designed for general clinics, making it difficult to store records from traditional Korean medicine or dental clinics. To address this, the Ministry of Health and Welfare will expand the scope of the system to include traditional Korean medicine records. The ministry plans to work with relevant organizations, such as the Association of Korean Medicine, to establish issuance forms for traditional medicine records and improve the storage system accordingly.

Currently, parents can only obtain online copies of medical records from closed or suspended institutions for children under the age of 14. However, starting in March, this will be expanded to include children under 19, allowing guardians broader access to the medical records of their minor children.

Beginning next month, an API (Application Programming Interface) will be opened to allow medical institutions easier access to the medical record storage system. This will support more medical institutions in transferring medical records more easily.

Choi Kyungil, Director of the Medical Information Policy Division at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stated, "Medical records from closed or suspended institutions are important health information for the public, so we will continue to improve the system to ensure they are managed and utilized safely and conveniently. We hope that expanding the system to include traditional Korean medicine will further improve public access to their medical records."