(Health Korea News / Yu Ji-in) Starting today, when mild and non-emergency patients receive treatment at regional emergency medical centers of higher-level hospitals, the patient burden for emergency room treatment will increase from the current 50-60% to 90%. There is criticism that the government is passing on the burden of its push to increase the number of medical schools to patients.
On the 13th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare began implementing the revised Enforcement Decree of the National Health Insurance Act containing these contents. The Ministry of Welfare explained the background of the revised decree as “to prevent overcrowding in emergency rooms and to efficiently utilize limited medical resources so that critically ill emergency patients can receive timely treatment.”
According to the Korean Acute Care Severity Assessment Standard (KTAS), mild and non-emergency patients are those with non-life-threatening symptoms such as enteritis, confusion, and urinary tract infection. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, 42% of patients who recently visited the emergency room were mild and non-emergency patients. Moderate emergency patients (patients suspected of being severely emergency) are patients with mild respiratory failure, bleeding, and diarrhea. The Ministry of Health and Welfare explains that such patients account for 50% of emergency room users.
8% of patients using the emergency room are in critical condition, with representative symptoms including cardiac arrest, apnea, severe trauma, cerebral hemorrhage, myocardial infarction, cerebral infarction, dyspnea, and hematemesis, and are life-threatening cases.
At Mom’s Cafe, there were responses such as “We have no choice but to use the emergency room because our children are in urgent situations, such as frequent fevers and dehydration from enteritis, but the cost is too much” and “Emergency room costs were already burdensome because they are not covered by insurance, so the increase in the out-of-pocket cost is driving me crazy.”
Regarding this, Jeong Tong-ryeong, the director of public health policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said, “If citizens get sick during the Chuseok holiday, they can first visit their local hospital or clinic or a small emergency room to receive appropriate medical services based on the doctor’s judgment,” adding, “The burden of medical expenses will not increase.”
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Source: www.hkn24.com
