'Regional Pediatric Care Cooperation' Shows Effectiveness, But "Fee Improvements Needed"

80% of Central Hospitals Give Positive Response in Pediatric Society Survey
"Basic Compensation Needed to Maintain Cooperation System... Scale Must Be Greatly Expanded"

The 'Pilot Project for Establishing a Regional Pediatric Care Cooperation System' has proven effective in promoting patient referrals and transfers between hospitals. However, concerns have been raised that expanding the project will be limited by the current reimbursement rates and support mechanisms. As the pilot is set to conclude at the end of this year, pediatric hospitals have called for a substantial expansion of the full-scale project, but only after improvements to the compensation system.

The Korean Pediatric and Adolescent Hospital Association held a press conference on the 28th at the Korea Hospital Association in Mapo-gu, Seoul, to disclose the evaluation results from the field of the 'Pilot Project for Establishing a Regional Pediatric Care Cooperation System.' Korean Pediatric and Adolescent Hospital Association

The Korean Pediatric and Adolescent Hospital Association held a press conference on the 28th at the Korea Hospital Association in Mapo-gu, Seoul, to release the results of a survey conducted among core hospitals and both participating and non-participating pediatric hospitals involved in the pilot project for a regional pediatric care cooperation system.

This project connects local pediatric clinics, pediatric hospitals, and tertiary general hospitals into a single regional network, enabling swift patient referrals and transfers according to the patient's condition. The core pediatric hospitals are responsible for inpatient and intensive care, as well as nighttime and holiday medical services, while severe and emergency cases are transferred to referral hospitals.

A survey conducted from August 24 to 26 received responses from 15 out of 19 core hospitals, 10 out of 18 participating pediatric hospitals, and 16 non-participating hospitals. The results showed that 53.3% of core hospitals responded that the pilot project was 'extremely helpful' in restoring the pediatric healthcare system, and 26.7% said it was 'somewhat helpful,' meaning positive feedback reached 80%. An additional 86.6% believed that expanding the project nationwide would encourage greater pediatric care. Meanwhile, 53.3% said that referrals and transfers to referral hospitals were proceeding smoothly.

Conversely, the greatest issue identified was inadequate compensation. A total of 46.7% of core hospitals responded that 'the current reimbursement and support levels are insufficient compared to the actual personnel and expense inputs.' When referral and transfer numbers are low, sufficient compensation is difficult to obtain. The burden on core institutions to establish networks with participating and referral hospitals themselves was also cited as a problem.

In terms of improvements for the full-scale project, 60% of respondents requested 'establishing basic compensation not only for actual referral and transfer numbers but also for maintaining the cooperation system and for participation itself.' There was also support for appropriately compensating the treating institution regardless of referral or transfer direction, as well as increasing reimbursement rates and grants to reflect the roles, workforce, and workloads of each organization.

There was significant dissatisfaction with the current operation of grant payments. 50% responded that 'the amount hospitals ultimately receive is under 30% of the annual cooperation system grant of approximately 200 million won.' Additionally, 50% said it was 'inappropriate' to require that more than 50% of government support funds go toward personnel costs for participating staff. Furthermore, 60% responded that 'an additional 5 to 10 hours per week are used for administrative work.'

Among non-participating hospitals, 43.6% said they would join the full-scale project if conditions improved. On the other hand, 31.2% said they would not participate under the current conditions. Desired conditions for participation included expanded grants, less restrictive age and frequency limits for the pediatric specialty management fee, and relaxed rules on how support funds may be used.

Choi Yongjae, president of the Korean Pediatric and Adolescent Hospital Association and director of Uijeongbu Ttunnun Children's Hospital, stated, "While the core hospitals show a high patient transfer acceptance rate, both participating and non-participating hospitals reported that forwarding all patients is effectively impossible. Inequality might arise if children's health and lives depend on policy, so the size and support for core hospitals must be significantly expanded."

The association insisted that, in the full-scale project, priorities must include broadening eligibility for the pediatric specialty management fee, removing the cap for calculation, providing additional reimbursement, introducing compensation for referral hospitals, and simplifying administrative procedures. It also emphasized the need to move away from informal communication methods like phone calls or messengers, and instead develop a systematic network platform capable of managing referral and transfer documents and images.

Vice President Kim Joohyung of the association and director of Jeonju Dasol Hospital added, "As confirmed in the pilot project, core hospitals contributed meaningfully to addressing the collapsed pediatric healthcare system. For greater effectiveness in the full-scale project, meaningful discussions and consultations must address the identified issues and lead to improvements."

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