e-Health Policy in Korea

Young Chul Chung

doi:10.4258/jksmi.2004.10.4.355

The e-Health created new opportunities and challenges to the traditional health care in Korea by introducing information and communication technology. Many countries have been establishing e-Health vision and goals at the government level, however Korea has been establishing it with uncooperative vision and goals among numerous government offices since 2003. A single e-Health policy from these numerous government offices cannot cover all the aspects of the e-Health, which further hinders development of e-Health in Korea.

OBJECTIVE

The objectives of this study were to review e-Health policies in various Government offices of Korea and to discuss the ways of policy integration among them and the role of each office.

METHODS

Recent polices of e-Health in the MOHW, MOCIE, MIC, and MOST were reviewed and compared.

RESULTS

The related departments in the MOHW, MOCIE, MIC, and MOST have been working on not only traditional health care systems but also e-Health including industrial and technological aspects. However, e-Health policies from these related departments has been only focusing on contents, infrastructure, method, and technology without any collaborative road map for the e-Health

CONCLUSION

There should be a balanced and collaborative strategy among government departments with a close relationship for the development of e-Health in Korea.