Many hospitals display an obstetrics and gynecology sign but do not deliver babies, forcing pregnant women to check each hospital directly to see if delivery is available. That inconvenience is expected to ease as the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA) has released nationwide information on medical institutions that can perform deliveries.
HIRA said on the 13th that it will provide information on hospitals and birth centers that can actually perform deliveries by using medical billing data and medical resource information.
Anyone can check the information on HIRA's Open Data for Healthcare Big Data system. In the second half of the year, the "HIRA Health Map" service, which guides users to nearby medical institutions capable of delivery based on location, is also set to launch.
However, HIRA advised patients to confirm with the medical institution before visiting, as actual delivery availability may vary depending on management conditions and other factors at each facility.
The service was prepared to reduce user inconvenience caused by the decline in delivery-capable institutions. As of this year, there are 436 delivery medical institutions nationwide, down 29.7% from 2015. Of 1,571 hospital and clinic-level obstetrics and gynecology departments, only 260 (16.5%) actually perform deliveries.
HIRA President Hong Seung-kwon said, "We will expand services that the public can feel by using healthcare big data and strengthen information that can reduce inconvenience in medical settings."