"AI Writes Transfer Requests and Connects Tertiary Hospitals When Emergency Patients Arrive"

Ministry of Health and Welfare Unveils Ultra-Emergency Transfer Scenario with Voice EMR and OCR Integration
Full-Scale Launch of 'Healthcare Full-Cycle AX Sprint Project' Set for Next Month
Pilot Demonstrations to Begin at Public Hospitals in Seoul, Gangwon, and Jeonnam

"Let's assume a patient has just come for an outpatient visit at Boramae Hospital. The patient is explaining their symptoms although an exact diagnosis hasn't been made yet, and as you can see, everything is being automatically recorded here. As more information is entered, you'll notice the protocol shifts to acute stroke care. If the professor determines the patient is in an ultra-emergency state and decides on a transfer, a transfer request form is generated automatically, and all examination results and documents are attached to send a referral to nearby tertiary general hospitals. Seoul National University Hospital has accepted the transfer. While the patient is being moved, Seoul National University Hospital's system automatically checks for available neurosurgery operating rooms and assigns one quickly, so surgery can be prepared immediately."

On the 29th, at the 'AX Technology Demonstration for Medical Information Integration' held at Yoon Deok-byeong Hall in Seoul National University Hospital, Yeongeon-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, Kim Taehun, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Infomedix, demonstrated the process of transferring an emergency patient from a secondary hospital to a tertiary general hospital, simulating an actual medical scene. Photo by Jo Inkyung

On the 29th at Seoul National University Hospital, during the 'AX Technology Demonstration for Medical Information Linking,' the process was introduced in which a patient referral and return system, powered by artificial intelligence (AI), enables secondary hospitals (regional) and tertiary hospitals (regional tertiary hospitals) to exchange patient medical information. This allows patients to receive emergency surgery and treatment more quickly.

First, when medical staff provide care, the information spoken by the staff is immediately transcribed into text using 'voice EMR (electronic medical record)' technology. The AI then extracts key information from numerous medical records and automatically generates a summarized 'transfer request form.' Even after the patient is transferred to a higher-level hospital, AI-based OCR (optical character recognition) scanning technology instantly digitizes external medical records brought by the patient and provides a summary of essential medical history and examination results. The system also automatically prepares complex pathology report reviews as well as pre-anesthesia evaluation sheets, and after the patient's surgery and recovery, it generates the discharge records. Kim Taehoon, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Infmedics, who conducted the demonstration, emphasized, "By preventing duplicate tests and minimizing cumbersome paperwork, we can significantly reduce the golden time in ultra-emergency situations, allowing medical staff to focus on patient care."

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that, based on the AI technology demonstrated on this day, it will launch the 'Healthcare Full-cycle Artificial Intelligence Transformation (AX) Sprint Project' starting next month. As part of the 'AI Application Product Rapid Commercialization Support Project' led by 11 government ministries with a total budget of 754 billion won, the Ministry of Health and Welfare will invest a total of 9 billion won in six projects, including chronic disease management and referral linkage.

This initiative will be linked with the Public Healthcare AI Highway project, providing extensive support for large-scale computing resources (GPUs) and a dedicated public AX network. In particular, the plan is to directly integrate AI into each hospital's EMR and Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) to verify and implement a system that automates patient referral and return procedures in clinical settings.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare will designate three regions as pilot demonstration sites, taking into account medical infrastructure and regional characteristics: Seoul (Seoul National University Hospital–Seoul Medical Center), Gangwon (Gangwon National University Hospital–Yeongwol Medical Center–Gangneung Medical Center–Pyeongchang Public Health Center), and Jeonnam (Chonnam National University Hospital–Gwangju Christian Hospital). Miyeong Yeon, Head of Digital Health Planning at the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, explained, "The key goal is to build an intelligent medical service delivery system that bridges health disparities between regions and strengthens medical collaboration between responsible medical institutions, centered on AI technology that can be quickly brought to market and adopted in clinical practice."

During the policy discussion held alongside the demonstration, participants pointed out the urgent need for national-level provision of public GPU infrastructure to close the severe gap in IT infrastructure between local public hospitals and university hospitals, which must be addressed before the spread of medical AI and information sharing can proceed.

Kim Yongjin, Deputy Director of Medical Affairs at Seoul National University Hospital, said, "Public medical institutions do not have the resources to build ultra-high-performance GPU infrastructure on their own. The government must secure dedicated data centers or GPU centers for public healthcare and allocate resources accordingly." Heesook Cho, Deputy Director of Public Affairs at Gangwon National University Hospital, also suggested, "Local medical centers lack both in-house support and dedicated IT personnel for AX activation, so organizations such as public healthcare AX support centers centered on responsible regional medical institutions are needed." Jeonghee Kim, Head of Planning and Coordination at Seoul Medical Center, stressed the urgency of basic system integration, saying, "Even among public hospitals under Seoul Medical Center, such as its Dongbu and Bukbu branches, each uses different EMR systems, making data integration and sharing impossible."

Some experts also noted that the current AX transformation effort must be more than just the introduction of new technology and should serve as an opportunity to restructure the Korean healthcare ecosystem. Seungyeon Cho, Chief of Surgery at Yeongwol Medical Center, said, "The collapse of essential and regional healthcare is due to the weakening of public healthcare. The adoption of advanced IT medical and AI models can fill workforce gaps in public hospitals and establish an organic network between regional and local hospitals, providing strong support for restoring the public nature of healthcare."

Jeongyeong Sil, Policy Chief of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, emphasized, "Large private hospitals are investing heavily in AX. If the government fails to invest in public healthcare, the gap will become unmanageable. We will focus all available resources on strengthening public healthcare AX, rapidly integrating AI with each hospital's EMR and PACS to ensure seamless treatment for patients and quickly build a smart medical infrastructure that prevents unnecessary medical expenses from duplicate tests."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.