Discussions will begin to prevent shortages of essential medical devices and to revise the health insurance reimbursement system. As health insurance spending on medical supplies has surged 172% over the past 10 years, essential medical devices have repeatedly faced supply disruptions.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said on the 9th it will operate a "medical device (medical supplies) system improvement council" starting on the 9th, with participation from industry, the medical community, and relevant experts.
The council will discuss the overall health insurance system for medical supplies, including stable supply of essential medical devices and appropriate price compensation. It will hold meetings once or twice a month and gather opinions from relevant groups by topic. It will operate as a body for collecting opinions and discussions, not a decision-making body, and aims to prepare improvement plans by the first half of next year.
Behind the discussions are on-the-ground concerns over shortages of essential medical supplies and low reimbursement levels. The "Gore incident" in 2019 is a representative case. At the time, U.S. company Gore halted supply of artificial blood vessels essential for pediatric heart surgery, raising concerns that child patients in Korea might not receive surgery in time.
In contrast, the health insurance fiscal burden for medical supplies is growing rapidly. From 2015 to 2024, reimbursement for medical supplies increased 172.2%. During the same period, the growth rate for reimbursement of medical services was 108.7%, and for pharmaceuticals it was 90.4%. As medical technology advances, categories of medical supplies have become more segmented, increasing related expenditure.
The council will first examine shortages and supply-demand instability of essential medical devices. It will discuss ways to identify in advance devices at risk of supply interruption and to induce stable supply.
It will also revise the standards used to set prices for medical supplies. For supplies that are difficult to procure due to low reimbursement levels, it will review ways to set appropriate prices. Conversely, it will also discuss ways to efficiently manage supplies that burden the health insurance budget.
It will review a system to efficiently manage the entire process from listing medical devices for health insurance to post-use management. With new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI)-based digital medical devices emerging quickly, there is a growing need to adjust the existing management system centered on medical supplies.
On the supply side, three groups will participate: the Korea Medical Devices Industry Association, the Korea Medical Device Cooperative, and the Korea Dental Medical Device Industry Association. On the demand side, three groups will participate: the Korean Medical Association Organization, the Korean Hospital Association, and the Korean Dental Association. Three relevant experts and government and public institutions, including the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministery of Food and Drug Safety, the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service, and the National Health Insurance Service, will also participate.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to draw up system improvement measures by the first half of next year after discussions at the council.