The government will pay about 1 trillion won more from the National Health Insurance budget to general hospitals and higher-level medical institutions that maintained inpatient care for critically ill patients during the doctor-government dispute. Including prior payments, total support comes to 1.53 trillion won.
According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare on the 29th, the 6th Health Insurance Policy Deliberation Committee, held recently, reviewed a plan to pay post-hoc compensation for inpatient care of critically ill patients during the emergency care period.
The recipients this time are tertiary general hospitals and general hospitals that met the ratio of inpatients in the specialized diagnosis-related group for cancer, heart, and brain diseases (DRG-A) during the period when medical service gaps occurred due to a mass departure of resident doctors. The thresholds are at least 34% for tertiary general hospitals and 17% for general hospitals out of all inpatients.
The emergency care period is about 9 months and 20 days from March 2024 to the end of the same year for tertiary general hospitals, and about 16 months and 20 days until July 2025 for general hospitals.
Earlier in 2024, the government made prior payments totaling 625.1 billion won in two rounds. It then analyzed claims to confirm whether each medical institution met the payment requirements and carried out additional settlements.
The final settlement payment totals 909.94 billion won for 142 hospitals. Of that, tertiary general hospitals will receive 383.22 billion won and general hospitals 526.72 billion won. Including prior payments, total support amounts to about 1.53 trillion won.
The ministry will notify each hospital of its payment plan by the end of this month, accept objections until mid-next month, and make the final payments at the end of April.