The Ministry of Health and Welfare will expand eligibility for compensation insurance premium support for medical staff in essential care. The aim is to reduce the burden of medical accidents in delivery and emergency settings to ease avoidance of essential care.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said it will invite insurers to participate in the "compensation insurance premium support program for essential care medical staff" from the 11th to the 26th.
The program is a system in which the state covers part of the medical accident liability insurance premiums for medical staff engaged in essential care. It has been implemented since last year to encourage medical institutions to enroll in liability insurance and build a safety net for medical accidents.
Through an amendment to the Medical Dispute Mediation Act that passed the National Assembly last month, the government also established grounds for mandatory enrollment by medical institutions in liability insurance and for state support of premiums.
Starting with this year's program, eligibility will be expanded. What had focused on the delivery field will now include pediatricians at maternal and child health centers and dedicated specialists at emergency medical institutions. The measure aims to ease avoidance of deliveries and refusal at emergency rooms.
Eligible specialists include obstetricians and gynecologists with delivery records, dedicated specialists at maternal and child health centers, hospital-level pediatric surgeons, pediatric thoracic surgeons, pediatric cardiologists, pediatric neurosurgeons, and dedicated specialists at emergency medical institutions.
Dedicated specialists at emergency medical institutions include not only those at regional emergency centers, regional trauma centers, and pediatric specialty centers but also specialists at regional emergency centers in areas participating in the "pilot project to innovate the emergency patient transport system." Specialists from departments other than emergency medicine are also eligible.
Considering the characteristics of essential care with high compensation risks, the government plans to design insurance products for specialists up to 1.7 billion won. Medical institutions will bear up to 150 million won, and the insurance will cover the 1.55 billion won band above that. The state will support premiums of about 1.75 million won per specialist per year.
Support for residents will also continue. Residents in internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, thoracic and cardiovascular surgery, emergency medicine, neurosurgery, and neurology are eligible.
For residents, the training hospital will bear up to 20 million won, and the insurance will cover the 310 million won band above that. The state will support premiums of about 300,000 won per resident per year.
The ministry plans to select insurers through the Korea Medical Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Agency and then support medical institutions in enrolling in the insurance. New enrollments will be accepted on a rolling basis from Jun. to Nov.