Current status and policy options for high-tech medical devices in Korea: vertical and horizontal synchronization of health policy

Article information

J Korean Med Assoc. 2012;55(10):950-958

Publication date (electronic) : 2012 October 17

doi : https://doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2012.55.10.950

Sang Gyu Lee, MD

Department of Preventive Medicien, Dankook University College of Medicien, Cheonan, Korea.

Corresponding author: Sang Gyu Lee, leevan@dankook.ac.kr

Received 2012 September 20; Accepted 2012 September 30.

Abstract

This paper examines current status of high-tech medical devices in Korea, especially bringing focus to the computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, and traces government policies relevant to this situation. The rapid diffusion of high-tech medical devices mainly led by physician's clinics and small hospitals and lack of efficient policy coordination and synchronization have resulted deterioration of quality and decrease of social benefit. The quality problem could be resolved when the pursuit of micro-efficiencies by the providers are synchronized to the macro-efficiency of health system. If the government disclose quality information of high-tech devices and gives incentives to the provider's efforts to increase quality, the current competition between providers to capture patients could be evolved to the competition for better quality. In addition to this vertical synchronization, horizontal policy synchronizations such as with health insurance policy are also discussed.

Keywords: Medical technology; Imaging device; Magnetic resonance imaging; Computed tomography; Policy synchronization

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This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Figure 1

Number of high-tech imaging devices in Korea. CT, computed tomography; MRI, magnetic resonance imaging; PET, positron emission tomography (From Choi YJ, et al. Development of fee schedule for high-tech medical imaging devices. Seoul: Health Insurance Review Agency; 2012) [6].

Figure 2

Number of computed tomography (CT) per million population in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries (2010, using nearest year when missing) (From Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. OECD health care resources [Internet]. Paris: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) [7].

Figure 3

Number of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) per million population in OECD countries (2010, using nearest year when missing) (From Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. OECD health care resources [Internet]. Paris: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) [7].

Figure 4

Number of computed tomography (CT) according to the facility type in Korea (From Choi YJ, et al. Development of fee schedule for high-tech medical imaging devices. Seoul: Health Insurance Review Agency; 2012) [6].

Figure 5

Number of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) according to the facility type in Korea (From Choi YJ, et al. Development of fee schedule for high-tech medical imaging devices. Seoul: Health Insurance Review Agency; 2012) [6].

Table 1

Number of tests per computed tomography unit according to the facility type (2009)

Values are presented as number (%).

Tests covered by National Health Insurance were counted.

From Choi YJ, et al. Development of fee schedule for high-tech medical imaging devices. Seoul: Health Insurance Review Agency; 2012 [6].

Table 2

Number of tests per magnetic resonance imaging unit according to the facility type (2009)

Values are presented as number (%).

Tests covered by National Health Insurance were counted.

From Choi YJ, et al. Development of fee schedule for high-tech medical imaging devices. Seoul: Health Insurance Review Agency; 2012 [6].

Table 3

Number of high-price medical equipment^a) according to production year (2006)

Values are presented as number (%).

From Han KH, et al. Korean J Hosp Manag 2007;12:31-50, according to the Creative Commons license [8].

^a)Angio, computed radiography . digital radiography, mammogram, gamma-camera, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, positron emission tomography, linear accelerator, and gamma-knife.

Table 4

Number of computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) units according to production year (2011)

Values are presented as number (%).

Units of which production year are unknown were excluded.

From Han KH, et al. Korean J Hosp Manag 2007;12:31-50, according to the Creative Commons license [8].