Regions with "Moonlight Children's Hospitals," which provide outpatient pediatric care during nights and holidays, showed about half the emergency room utilization rate for mild and non-emergency pediatric patients compared to regions without them.

It was also confirmed that more than half of all pediatric patients visiting emergency rooms are aged 0 to 6 and have mild or non-emergency conditions.

According to the study titled "Research on Institutional Improvement Plans for Night and Holiday Pediatric Care Facilities," conducted by a research team led by Professor Ham Myung-il in the Department of Health Administration and Management at Soonchunhyang University at the request of the Ministry of Health and Welfare on Sunday, these findings were revealed through an analysis of pediatric emergency medical service utilization patterns following the introduction of Moonlight Children's Hospitals.

The study results showed that the emergency medical utilization rate per 1,000 children for mild pediatric patients in 2024 stood at 52.67 cases in regions where Moonlight Children's Hospitals were introduced, which is about half the rate of regions without them (95.06 cases).

Moonlight Children's Hospitals are designated from existing medical institutions to provide outpatient care for mild pediatric patients during weekday nights and holidays.

They were established to alleviate overcrowding in emergency rooms by dispersing mild pediatric patients, and to reduce the inconvenience and financial burden experienced by patients and guardians from using emergency rooms.

The study was conducted by analyzing the emergency room utilization rates of mild pediatric patients, including semi-emergencies.

Semi-emergencies are categories calculated according to the Korean Triage and Acuity Scale (KTAS), which classifies severity into resuscitation, critical, emergent, semi-emergent, and non-emergent.

KTAS severity levels 1 through 3 are considered emergencies, level 4 is semi-emergent, and level 5 is non-emergent, with levels 4 and 5 categorized as mild.

The research team's analysis spanning from 2017 to 2024 also showed that, except for 2017, the emergency medical utilization rate of mild pediatric patients in regions without Moonlight Children's Hospitals remained consistently higher than in regions with them throughout the entire period.

The research team pointed out that this suggests regions lacking Moonlight Children's Hospitals have a relatively high reliance on emergency rooms for mild pediatric patients.

The research team explained, "The presence or absence of Moonlight Children's Hospitals was found to have a statistically significant effect on the increase in visits by semi-emergent and non-emergent pediatric patients to emergency rooms," adding, "It was confirmed that semi-emergent and non-emergent pediatric patients are more likely to visit emergency rooms in regions without them."

Additionally, based on mild cases, it was reported that Moonlight Children's Hospitals absorbed the demand of 768,000 mild patients, saving approximately 98.2 billion won in medical expenses.

(Photo: Yonhap News)