Building a National University Hospital Network to Minimize Gaps in Care
New Special Account Next Year...Expanded Investment in Facilities and Equipment
To resolve the concentration of medical services in the greater Seoul area and to overcome the crisis of collapsing regional and essential medical care, the government will position national university hospitals as the control towers of regional healthcare. It will overhaul the health insurance reimbursement system, which amounts to about 130 trillion won per year, to strengthen compensation for regional and essential medical services, and establish an organic cooperation network connecting hub hospitals with local clinics and hospitals.
On the 25th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the Ministry of Education held a meeting on regional and essential medical care at Sejong Chungnam National University Hospital, attended by the heads of 10 national university hospitals nationwide, to discuss concrete implementation plans for building a regional, self-sufficient healthcare system.
At the meeting, the government presented four key improvement tasks: restructuring the health insurance reimbursement system; establishing a cooperation network (Hub & Spoke) centered on national university hospitals; expanding the capacity for severe and final-stage treatment; and fostering and expanding the essential medical workforce.
First, the government will restructure the health insurance reimbursement system, which is currently worth about 130 trillion won annually. In high-risk, low-compensation essential medical fields, it will strengthen compensation by introducing public policy-based reimbursement, and in parallel it will improve the payment structure by supplementing the existing volume-based fee schedule so that treatment outcomes at the level of institutions and networks are rewarded. In particular, by systematizing the division of roles and referral links between hub hospitals and local clinics and hospitals (Spokes), the government will fundamentally strengthen a network-based reimbursement system, and transform the fragmented healthcare delivery system into an organic cooperation structure by expanding the establishment of teleconsultation infrastructure and enhancing support for networks centered on responsible medical institutions.
The government will also continue to expand investments next year in facilities and equipment for national university hospitals and regional responsible medical institutions, which amount to about 200 billion won this year, in order to strengthen the capacity for final treatment of severe patients. It will integrate previously fragmented support projects and grant hospitals the authority to autonomously set priorities and execute budgets. In addition, the meeting discussed promoting problem-solving, comprehensive support to fill gaps in regional and essential medical care, led by national university hospitals that are most familiar with conditions on the ground in their regions.
The government will further expand support in 2027 for immediately deployable medical personnel such as contract-based regional essential doctors and senior doctors, whose numbers have been significantly increased this year, to improve access to medical care in underserved areas, and, in line with the introduction of the regional doctor system, it will simultaneously invest in training future regional doctors.
Participants agreed that, in order to expand regional and essential medical care, it is important for national university hospitals to play a responsible role, alongside legislative and fiscal support. They emphasized that it is necessary not only to strengthen the capacity of individual hospitals, but also to establish a system of specialized role-sharing and cooperation among regional medical institutions. They also stressed the need for policy support to build a foundation for enhancing the quality of care and improving operational efficiency through digital transformation (AX) based on artificial intelligence (AI), data, and cloud technologies.
Based on the on-site opinions presented at this meeting, the government plans to continue consultations among relevant ministries and to gradually push forward concrete investment plans and institutional improvements to strengthen regional and essential medical care.
Jeong Kyungsil, policy chief for health and medical services at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said, "We will promptly alleviate regional disparities in healthcare by clearly defining the role of national university hospitals within regional healthcare and providing comprehensive support to enable them to fulfill that role," adding, "Going forward, we will continue to pursue institutional improvements and financial support so that national university hospitals can serve as the backbone of regional healthcare while also fulfilling their functions as university hospitals in medical research and resident training."
Cho Yongbeom, director general of the Budget Office at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, said, "Through the special account for regional essential medical care to be newly established in 2027, we will secure a stable budget for health and medical support and strengthen support for building a regional, self-sufficient healthcare system," and emphasized, "Since structural reform of the health insurance reimbursement system is essential, we will pursue improvements through inter-ministerial discussions."
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