Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy Price Up 1.9%, Implants Down 0.9%... Non-Covered Medical Fees Disclosed

HIRA Discloses Non-covered Prices for 74,449 Medical Institutions Covering 753 Items

Sixty More Items Published Than Last Year... Medical Supply Prices Also Revealed

The price of extracorporeal shock wave therapy, a representative non-covered medical item under the National Health Insurance, has increased by nearly 2% over the past year. The cost of extracorporeal shock wave therapy varied by up to 2.5 times depending on the region, while the price difference for proliferative therapy for musculoskeletal disorders reached as much as fourfold.

Non-Covered Medical Expenses Inquiry and Comparison Screen on the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service Website.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service announced that, starting September 3, 2026, non-covered medical expenses for the year will be released via the HIRA website and the mobile app "Health e-Eum." This system aims to provide information on non-covered pricing at each medical institution, guaranteeing the public's right to know and supporting rational healthcare choices.

This year, 753 items are subject to disclosure, up by 60 compared to last year's 693 items. Eleven new items, such as corneal cross-linking, radiotherapy hyperthermia, and hyperthermia treatment planning, have been added. Existing items such as robot-assisted surgery have also been subdivided. A total of 74,449 medical institutions submitted price data for disclosure, accounting for 99.8% of all eligible providers. The items disclosed include 460 medical procedures, 262 items of therapeutic materials, and 31 types of certificate and document processing fees.

Among the 593 items disclosed in both last year and this year, the average price increased in 436 items (73.5%) and decreased in 146 items (24.6%). The coefficient of variation, which indicates pricing differences between medical institutions, increased in 337 items (56.8%). However, when applying the inflation rate (the consumer price index had a growth rate of 3.2%), the number of items with a real decrease in average price rises to 448 (75.5%).

Among major non-covered items, the price of extracorporeal shock wave therapy increased by 1.9% compared to the previous year. The overall average price rose from 76,500 won last year to 77,900 won this year. At the clinic level, the average also increased by 2.1%, from 74,500 won to 76,100 won. Notably, in clinic cases, the median price was 70,000 won, while the highest price reached 175,000 won, indicating a significant price difference between institutions.

The average price of proliferative therapy increased by 0.9%, rising from 63,800 won to 64,400 won overall. The average price for proliferative therapy of limb joints was approximately 61,000 won, and for the spine, about 69,800 won. For temporomandibular joint proliferative therapy, which was newly subdivided this year, the average price was about 97,600 won for the medical field and about 99,800 won for dentistry.

The average price of renal injection therapy rose by 2.0%, from 25,000 won to 25,500 won. In contrast, the price for influenza A and B virus antigen testing (point-of-care testing) remained unchanged at 27,400 won both last year and this year. However, the highest price increased by 20.3%, from 54,000 won to 65,000 won.

For dental implants, the overall average price dropped by 0.9%, from 1,191,000 won last year to 1,181,000 won this year. The median price also decreased by 0.8%, from 1,200,000 won to 1,190,000 won. However, the coefficient of variation, indicating price gaps between medical institutions, increased from 26.6 to 29.2. The average price at the clinic level dropped by 1.3%, from 1,154,000 won to 1,140,000 won.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare applied manual therapy as a managed benefit from July 1 this year, and for extracorporeal shock wave therapy, established criteria such as indications and number of procedures through voluntary self-regulation in the medical community. The ministry plans to expand managed benefit items in the future to prevent excessive non-covered charges and to strengthen the management system for non-covered items so as to reduce patients' out-of-pocket medical costs.

Yoo Jooheon, Director-General for Health Insurance Policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stated, "The system for disclosing non-covered medical expenses guarantees the public's right to know and supports reasonable use of non-covered services," and added, "We will continue to gather feedback from consumers and the medical community to improve the non-covered medical expense disclosure system."

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