The government decided to build a region-led essential care system centered on national university hospitals. Starting next year, it will create regional essential care special accounts to provide stable funding, with the core being to have local governments directly establish and carry out medical plans tailored to local conditions.
On the 7th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare held the third "central-local consultative body for strategies to promote regional, essential, and public health care," chaired by Second Vice Minister Lee Hyeong-hun, and discussed the direction for operating regional essential care special accounts starting Jan. 1 next year and the draft subordinate legislation for the Special Act to Support the Strengthening of Essential Care and to Bridge Regional Gaps in Health Care (Regional Essential Care Act).
Public health directors from 17 cities and provinces nationwide and deputy heads for public affairs at regional responsible medical institutions attended the meeting to discuss concrete implementation plans for regional essential care policy.
The regional essential care special accounts are being created to reduce regional disparities in health care and to stably establish a foundation for investment in essential care. The government plans to operate the special accounts under three principles: ▲ "more support the farther from the capital area," which expands support the farther the region is from the Seoul metropolitan area ▲ priority investment in public medical institutions ▲ "region-led," in which regions design projects themselves.
The ministry plans to flesh out the scale of the projects and details of support through consultations with related ministries and the budget process, based on investment needs proposed by cities and provinces and regional responsible medical institutions during the consultative body meetings.
The meeting also discussed a draft of the subordinate legislation to the Regional Essential Care Act, which takes effect in Mar. next year.
The Regional Essential Care Act aims to build a "region-complete medical system" that solves essential care within regions based on service areas. The subordinate legislation is expected to include a comprehensive plan for essential care, city and provincial implementation plans, fact-finding surveys, performance evaluations, a treatment cooperation system centered on responsible medical institutions, and standards for operating central and local governance.
The government also clearly divided the roles of the central and local governments. The Ministry of Health and Welfare will handle setting policy standards, performance evaluations, and financial support, while cities and provinces will establish and manage implementation plans suited to local conditions. Regional responsible medical institutions will oversee and coordinate regional essential care networks.
In addition, it decided to review ways to minimize overlap with existing public health care–related systems and to link similar plans and committee functions to reduce the administrative burden on local governments.
The ministry plans to incorporate feedback from local governments and regional responsible medical institutions to refine the subordinate legislation, then proceed with follow-up steps such as a notice of legislation.
Second Vice Minister Lee Hyeong-hun of the ministry said, "The regional essential care special accounts are not just financial support; they are the execution base of a region-complete essential care system in which regions themselves diagnose care gaps and the central and local governments craft solutions together," adding, "We will push ahead without a hitch with preparing the system so that people can receive the essential care they need wherever they live."