‘Medical Accident Review Committee’ newly established… Reclassification of 1,700 secondary hospitals by function | Donga Ilbo

Minimize investigation in case of simple negligence… Strengthening compensation for specialized and specialized hospitals
Sangjong Hospital restructuring scheduled for 4th review tomorrow for 11 hospitals

Medical Reform Special Committee, is presenting the first implementation plan for medical reform at the briefing of the 6th Medical Reform Special Committee meeting held at the Seoul Government Complex in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 30th. 2024.8.30/News 1″/>

Noh Yeon-hong, chairman of the Medical Reform Special Committee, is presenting the first implementation plan for medical reform at the briefing of the 6th Medical Reform Special Committee meeting held at the Seoul Government Complex in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 30th. 2024.8.30/News 1 The government will establish a new ‘Medical Accident Review Committee’ to resolve medical judicial risks and avoidance of essential medical care and establish a prosecution system centered on gross negligence.

In addition, the plan is to strengthen the medical delivery system by reclassifying secondary hospitals, which link primary clinic-level hospitals and tertiary general hospitals, by function.

The government held the ‘7th Medical Reform Special Committee’ at the Seoul Government Complex on the afternoon of the previous day (13th) and discussed the direction of reviewing the development of secondary medical care and strengthening primary medical care to strengthen regional and essential medical care, and the direction of strengthening the medical accident safety net. It was announced on the 14th that it was done.

The Special Committee on Medical Reform is a social discussion organization on structural reform tasks to overcome the crisis in regional and essential healthcare, and is discussing reform measures in each field through discussions between the Special Committee and its four affiliated expert committees.

At the 7th meeting, it was decided to establish a new ‘Medical Accident Review Committee’ (tentative name) and the contents were specified. In order to reduce wasteful investigation summons and establish a professional investigation system, the plan is to expand, develop, and institutionalize the ‘Medical Accident Case Investigation and Procedure Improvement Policy’ that has been in effect since last February.

The Medical Accident Review Committee plans to form a committee of people with expertise and representation from the government, medical community, patient groups, and legal community to ensure that investigations and prosecutions are focused on serious negligence.

Through this, it is expected that unnecessary investigation and investigation into simple negligence or force majeure medical accidents will be minimized and compensation and compensation will be expedited, thereby alleviating the suffering experienced by patients and medical staff.

In addition, in order to eliminate avoidance of essential medical care, it was decided to establish a prosecution system focusing on gross negligence that requires investigation and prosecution. Considering the risk of essential medical practice and the public interest, it was discussed that prosecution should be carried out only when a clear violation of the duty of care and the resulting damage to the patient are proven to be significant.

Anti-doctor disqualification, which exempts criminal punishment based on agreement between the parties, is widely recognized throughout medical practice, but in the case of fatal accidents, considering the seriousness, it is limited to essential medical fields, and there is also an opinion to consider applying special cases depending on whether a doctor can represent the deceased. presented.

In response to this, Jeong Kyeong-sil, head of the Medical Reform Promotion Team, said, “We plan to professionally handle cases that cause death or serious consequences by the physician appraisal committee.” He added, “Currently, there are 1 to 2 physician appraisal committee members, but we are planning to increase the number to a maximum of 3.” “Currently, there are about 300 members in the Medical Personnel Appraisal Committee, but we plan to increase the number to more than 1,000 to secure enough members,” he said.

In addition, “At the public hearing in February, there was a misunderstanding that ‘If you sign up for comprehensive insurance and provide financial compensation, won’t criminal, moral or legal responsibility disappear?’” he said. “There is discussion that this is not desirable, so we will not address it in the future.” “We are reexamining it,” he said.

At this meeting, in order to guarantee actual compensation for patients and support prompt resolution of disputes, we discussed in more depth the ‘promoting communication of medical accidents’ and ‘measures to innovate the medical dispute mediation system’ included in the first implementation plan for medical reform announced in August. It was handled well.

Specifically, in order to reduce difficulties in explaining medical accidents to patients and their families, a new ‘patient advocate system’ was established to assist patients. In addition, it was decided to enact an amendment to the ‘Medical Dispute Mediation Act’ to innovate the medical dispute mediation system, including improving the medical appraisal process.

A plan to expand national compensation for force majeure medical accidents that are not due to the medical staff’s negligence was also reviewed. The compensation limit for force majeure accidents, which was announced in legislation last October, was raised from 30 million won to more than 300 million won.

The results of the discussion on this day will be detailed by the Medical Accident Safety Net Expert Committee under the Special Committee, and a plan to legislate to change the prosecution system centered on serious negligence will be reported to the Special Committee within the year.

The Uigae Special Committee is promoting the re-establishment of the role of secondary hospitals to prevent the concentration of patients in tertiary hospitals and to ensure stable links between primary and tertiary hospitals. Currently, we discussed reorganizing the compensation system to classify about 1,700 secondary hospitals by function, improve medical quality evaluation, and the additional system for each type, so that excellent secondary hospitals do not receive unfavorable evaluations.

The special committee also reviewed measures to foster specialized and specialized hospitals. Existing specialty hospital types, such as cerebrovascular, children’s, etc., were reclassified according to purpose and function to enhance performance and compensation. Accordingly, in addition to the current specialty hospital subsidy, a quality subsidy of approximately 400 million won per hospital will be paid based on performance.

We also reviewed innovative pilot projects to perform integrated and continuous primary health care functions. We plan to introduce a payment system such as performance compensation based on bundled fees, health improvement, and patient satisfaction, and prepare an educational program so that these hospitals can cooperate with local secondary hospitals, local medical associations, etc.

In addition, we will continue to pursue a pilot project to transform the structure of large hospitals into tertiary general hospitals that focus on treating severe diseases.

Director Jeong said, “We have been accepting applications for support since October, and currently all 31 hospitals have completed their applications.” He added, “All hospitals that have applied are arbitrarily receiving increased fees in line with the bed reduction standards. “There will be a fourth review tomorrow, and as of today, 11 hospitals have completed their applications,” he explained.

At the ‘8th Medical Reform Special Committee’ scheduled for December, we plan to report specific implementation plans for each reform task, such as strengthening regional and essential medical services, medical accident safety net, and measures to improve non-benefit and actual losses.

Regarding the specific schedule and budget, Director Jeong said, “The necessary training for medical residents and insurance premium support to strengthen the medical accident safety net included in the first implementation plan were included in next year’s budget.” He added, “The future plan will be announced in the second implementation direction at the end of December.” “We will discuss it in detail,” he said.

(Seoul = News 1)