Regional "Essential Medical Care Cooperation Systems" to Be Established; Survey Regulations Detailed

With about six months remaining until the enforcement of the Regional Essential Medical Care Act, plans to establish essential medical cooperation systems by medical service area and criteria for designating hub medical institutions are being specified.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that it is pre-announcing the legislation of the enforcement decree and enforcement rules for the "Special Act on Strengthening Support for Essential Medical Care and Resolving Regional Medical Disparities," which contain these details.
The Regional Essential Medical Care Act was enacted and promulgated in March of this year to resolve regional medical disparities by strengthening relevant systems so that essential medical services can be accessed in a timely manner within local regions.
These enforcement decrees and rules specify matters delegated by the Regional Essential Medical Care Act, which will take effect on March 11 of next year, as well as detailed requirements necessary for the enforcement of the law.
First, the enforcement decree stipulates that when the Minister of Health and Welfare establishes a comprehensive plan for essential medical care, the results of policy performance evaluations must be reflected. It also requires the Minister to prepare guidelines necessary for establishing annual city and provincial essential medical care implementation plans and notify the mayors and provincial governors accordingly.
In addition, the operation of the Essential Medical Care Support Center may be entrusted to institutions such as the National Medical Center.
The enforcement decree also mandates that the Essential Medical Care Policy Deliberation Committee be composed of vice ministers from relevant ministries, including the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Economy and Finance, as well as vice mayors and vice governors recommended by the council of mayors and provincial governors. It also specifies that the city and provincial essential medical care committees shall have the mayor or provincial governor and the head of the responsible medical institution representing the entire medical service area of the region as co-chairs.
Regarding the enforcement rules, they require the comprehensive plan for essential medical care to include matters concerning policy performance evaluation and regional cooperation, and mandate that surveys on the actual status of essential medical care include details on usage patterns and the quality of medical care.
Mayors and provincial governors are required to conduct and submit annual essential medical care performance evaluations in accordance with the guidelines of the Minister of Health and Welfare.
Furthermore, the Minister of Health and Welfare or mayors and provincial governors are authorized to establish multiple essential medical care cooperation systems within a medical service area.
The designation of hub medical institutions for essential medical care is limited to general hospitals capable of maintaining 24-hour medical systems and performing tasks such as the transfer and referral of essential medical care patients, with provisions for mayors and provincial governors to provide budgetary support.
The enforcement rules also include provisions allowing the Minister of Health and Welfare to designate "essential medical care vulnerable areas" by comprehensively considering the supply and demand of essential medical care by medical service area and the accessibility of health and medical institutions.
Opinions on the enforcement decree and enforcement rules can be submitted to the Regional Essential Medical Care Division of the Ministry of Health and Welfare or the Public Participation Legislation Center from July 20 to August 31.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to finalize the enactment after broadly collecting public opinions during the pre-announcement period.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.