Journal List > J Korean Med Assoc > v.62(11) > 1136707

Jang: Korean hospitalist system implementation and development strategies based on pilot studies

Abstract

The Korean hospitalist system was introduced in 2016. The new inpatient care system that provides direct care from a specialist required great efforts from various parties to implement successfully. This study outlines the implementation of the Korean hospitalist system and the development strategies based on pilot studies. The definition of the Korean hospitalist includes two elements which are 1) hospitalist is a physician who is in charge of a patient from admission to discharge and 2) hospitalist should stay in the hospitalist ward, where a hospitalist provides medical services to patients at their point of needs. The purpose of the Korean hospitalist system is to provide high-quality care and to ensure the safety of admitted patients. Due to a gap in the healthcare workforces in hospitals caused by changes in the residents' working hours and training period of the residents, the implementation of a new system was inevitable to provide care for patients. The result of private and public pilot studies indicated that hospitals, physicians, and patients are keen to have the hospitalist system in place. Also, those stakeholders agreed that reasonable and accurate fee-schedules for hospitalist services would enhance the service system. Within the current system, hospitals are reimbursed for providing the service, while patients pay out-of-pocket. Therefore, the service can only be applied to a patient who agrees to pay the additional fee for the service. As the Korean medical system is facing a paradigm shift, the Korean hospitalist system will play an essential role in the transition as moving forward to provide professional care for inpatients.

Notes

Conflict of Interest No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

References

1. Jang SI, Park EC, Nam JM, Chae WJ, Lee NK, Kim JY, Lee JE, Cho YD. A study on the implementation and the evaluation of Korean hospitalist system to improve the quality of hospitalization (phase 2). Seoul: Institute of Health Services Research, Yonsei University;2018.
2. Ministry of Health and Welfare; Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service. Korean hospitalist pilot study guidelines [Internet]. Sejong: Ministry of Health and Welfare;2017. cited 2019 Oct 2. Available from: http://www.mohw.go.kr/react/al/sal0101vw.jsp?PAR_MENU_ID=04&MENU_ID=040101&page=1&CONT_SEQ=343828.
3. Kwon S. Thirty years of national health insurance in South Korea: lessons for achieving universal health care coverage. Health Policy Plan. 2009; 24:63–71.
crossref
4. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Health at a glance 2017: OECD indicators [Internet]. Paris: OECD Publishing;2017. cited 2019 May 1. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1787/health_glance-2017-en.
5. Park EC, Lee SG, Kim TH, Jang SI, Kim JY, Lee NK, Lee SA, Lee JE, Jang JE, Choi JW. A study on the implementation and the evaluation of Korean hospitalist system to improve the quality of hospitalization (phase 1). Seoul: Institute of Health Services Research, Yonsei University;2016.
6. Koh DY. Political strategies to enhance medical residents. Health Policy. Health Policy. 2014; 37:[Epub] http://www.snuhfund.com/webmail/20140318/37-forum.html.
7. Act for the Improvement of Training Conditions and Status of Medical Residents, Act No.13600 . 2015. 12. 22.
8. Kim SS. Working conditions of interns/residents and patient safety: painful training might not be authentic. J Korean Med Assoc. 2016; 59:82–84.
crossref
9. Jang SI, Jang SY, Park EC. Trends of US hospitalist and suggestions for introduction of Korean hospitalist. Korean J Med. 2015; 89:1–5.
crossref
10. Wachter RM, Goldman L. Zero to 50,000: the 20th anniversary of the hospitalist. N Engl J Med. 2016; 375:1009–1011.
crossref
TOOLS
ORCID iDs

Sung-In Jang
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0760-2878

Similar articles