Easier Access to Medical Records for Parents with Dementia... Ministry of Health and Welfare Revises Notice

Accessing the medical records of parents with severe dementia or children with developmental disabilities is expected to become much easier than before.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare recently announced a partial amendment to the "Notice on the Establishment and Operation of the Personal Medical Record Access Support System" containing these measures, and plans to accept public comments on it until the 31st of this month.

The ministry explained, "We aim to enhance patient safety and care efficiency by allowing family members (legal representatives) to proxy-access the medical records of individuals with developmental disabilities and severe dementia. To this end, we intend to replace the document submission process required for proxy access with an automated verification process through data linkage between relevant information systems."

The personal medical record access support system allows patients to check their medical records, such as treatment, medication prescription, and surgery histories scattered across multiple medical institutions all at once, and transmit them to other hospitals and clinics if necessary.

While typically accessible via mobile apps, if patients had difficulty searching for their own medical records, family members or legal representatives had to go through the hassle of preparing documents to verify family relationships and visiting a hospital.

However, when the revised notice takes effect, information on severe dementia patients among the National Health Insurance Service's subjects for special calculation exceptions and registered information on individuals with developmental disabilities in the social security information system will be linked to the personal medical record access system, making it possible to verify proxy access eligibility.

Information for confirming proxy rights and kinship—such as resident registration copies, family relationship certificates, and guardianship registration certificates—will also be linked, eliminating the need to submit separate documents.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare explained, "Previously, those who wanted proxy access had to visit a medical institution in person with documents stipulated by the Enforcement Rule of the Medical Service Act. Moving on, simply entering the resident registration number and name of a family member suffering from severe dementia or developmental disabilities will enable the verification of the patient and family relationships through the linked system, streamlining the process of viewing medical records."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.