"Neighborhood Clinics as Family Doctors"... Building a Primary Care Model Integrating Health Management and Community Care

Ministry of Health and Welfare Announces Call for "Community Primary Care Innovation Pilot Project"

100 Clinics to Be Selected and Operated for Three Years Starting in September

Introduction of Multidisciplinary Teams and Integrated Fee System

The government is launching a pilot project to foster local clinics as the central pillar of the "family doctor" role, not just as institutions for treating diseases, but also as hubs for health management and community care.

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The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on July 8 that it will publicly recruit clinic-level medical institutions to participate in the "Community Primary Care Innovation Pilot Project" until August 5. Once the participating institutions are selected, the pilot project is scheduled to officially begin as early as September this year and will run for approximately three years. The final selection will include about 100 clinics.

The core of this project is to enable local residents to receive not only disease treatment but also prevention, health management, and care coordination at their neighborhood clinics. The plan aims to establish a Korean-style primary care model that strengthens prevention and ongoing health management in response to the super-aged society and the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases. The project will begin with individuals aged 50 and older, who have a high demand for health management, and the target age group will be gradually expanded in the future.

Participating clinics will operate multidisciplinary teams consisting of physicians, nurses, physical therapists, nutritionists, and social workers. These teams will comprehensively assess each patient's health status and living environment to develop individualized care plans. Continuous services will be provided, including education and counseling, remote care, vaccination guidance, health check-up consultations, medication management, home visits and nursing if necessary, and connecting patients to community care resources.

The pilot project will be divided into two models: the "independent model," in which a clinic operates its own multidisciplinary team, and the "collaborative model," in which multiple clinics within a region collaborate with a designated support institution. The independent model requires clinics to have a multidisciplinary team of at least four members, including two physicians and one dedicated nurse. In the collaborative model, about 10 clinics jointly provide services by utilizing a general hospital, regional medical center, public health center, or clinic as a support hub.

Participating clinics can choose between two payment models: the "integrated fee system," which applies a unified fee based on the patient's health status for consultations, examinations, and procedures, or the existing "fee-for-service" system. Clinics that select the integrated fee system will receive incentives, such as a 30% increase in primary care service fees and expanded performance-based rewards. Additional funding will be provided to support the operation of multidisciplinary teams: 30 million won annually for clinics in the independent model and 150 million won for support hubs in the collaborative model.

No matter which payment model a clinic chooses, patients will only be responsible for the same out-of-pocket expenses as before. For primary care services such as education, counseling, and health management, patients can receive comprehensive health management services at no additional cost.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the implementation plans and primary care service capabilities of participating medical institutions, designate preliminary candidates, and select the final institutions after further consultation. Two briefing sessions on the project will be held on July 15 and 16.

Ko Hyungwoo, Director of Essential Medical Support at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stated, "This pilot project is an important starting point for transitioning from a disease treatment-centered medical system to a prevention- and management-focused primary care system. We will successfully establish a Korean-style primary care model so that local residents can receive more comprehensive and continuous health management services at their neighborhood clinics."

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