The Ministry of Health and Welfare said on the 23rd it will expand integrated nursing care services, focusing on tertiary general hospitals outside the capital region. The ministry held the 8th Health Insurance Policy Deliberation Committee meeting that afternoon and discussed the plan.
Integrated nursing care service is a system in which dedicated nurses or nursing assistants at hospitals provide 24-hour patient care. Patients do not need to hire private caregivers at a cost of several million won per month or rely on guardians. As many as 2.88 million people used it last year. The ministry estimates patients can save an average of 108,000 won per day in caregiving costs.
Previously, tertiary general hospitals were limited to four wards providing integrated nursing care services. Going forward, tertiary general hospitals outside the capital region will have this cap lifted. They will be able to provide integrated nursing care services in up to 20 wards. The government will also expand dedicated inpatient rooms for severe patients with high nursing and caregiving needs. A ministry official said, "We expect more patients will be able to reduce their caregiving burden while receiving safe, high-quality services."
The ministry also decided to raise health insurance fees by 2% for 27,000 separately calculated medical materials. With the recent rise in exchange rates pushing up prices of medical materials and raw and subsidiary materials, the decision aims to ease manufacturing corporations' expense burden.
It also selected three ingredients for reassessing this year the appropriateness of drug reimbursement. Ginkgo leaf extract used to treat brain function disorders, calcium dobesilate monohydrate for vascular strengthening, and silymarin (milk thistle extract) for toxic liver disease are subject to reassessment.
If a drug is found clinically not useful through the reassessment of reimbursement appropriateness, it will be excluded from reimbursement. If results on usefulness are mixed, selective reimbursement will apply. A ministry official said, "We will continue systematic evaluations to improve reimbursement budget efficiency."