- Date2021-06-17
- HIRA Receives Presidential Commendation for Best COVID-19 Response Download
HIRA Receives Presidential Commendation for
“Best COVID-19 Response”
On April 13 (Tuesday), the Central Disaster Management Headquarters for COVID-19 hosted the 2021 Government Awards of Merit for COVID-19 Response, and the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service received the Presidential Commendation in the “Organization” category.
This awards program was conceived to identify those parties (as individuals or organizations) who have made exceptional achievements in their dedicated response to the COVID-19 pandemic over the past year (starting from January 20, 2020), providing them with encouragement and boosting their morale.
HIRA formed a specialized team that runs a special system for curbing the spread of COVID-19 infection. The team has supported the frontline healthcare workers in the COVID-19 battle, quickly expanding health benefit packages to get patients treated and providing supply status updates for medicine and health resources.
Operating a system to mitigate the COVID-19 spread
An emergency budget was allocated when the program for government-supplied face masks (i.e., mask rationing on a 5-day rotation) went into effect. This meant that each entity was only allowed to purchase additional masks once every five days, addressing the problem of unbalanced mask distribution.
The Drug Utilization Review (DUR) and International Traveler Information System (ITS) collect the global travel histories of all visitors entering the country, and that data is provided to healthcare facilities in real time, helping to prevent the infection of healthcare workers and spread of the disease.
The COVID-19 Epidemiological Investigation System was developed to consolidate and manage the personal histories of confirmed patients, and these data are provided to the Central Disaster Management Headquarters, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, local government agencies, and healthcare facilities, helping to make a safer healthcare environment for all Koreans
A Negative Pressure isolation room monitoring system was built, allowing administrators to ascertain in real time the number of available sickbeds, equipment and personnel in COVID-19 isolation rooms at 97 hospitals (42 tertiary, 54 general, and 1 hospitals) around the country. This capability has enabled sickbeds to be allocated quickly and appropriately.
Supporting COVID-19 patient treatment
The government has also designated and is managing 273 “national safe hospitals” (as of April 9, 2021) for treating non-COVID-19 patients, separating the diagnostic and treatment processes for patients with respiratory and non-respiratory illnesses and thereby helping to prevent hospital-acquired infections. As such public safety in healthcare is enhanced.
Because of the global health crisis, the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service shortened the average time required for health insurance to cover extracorporeal instruments for diagnosing COVID-19 to fifteen days (3 days for diagnosis verification, 13 days for emergency use, and 16 days for COVID-19 + flu tests). Thus equipment is immediately available in clinical settings, and 203 tests are now performed per case found. As such, Korea’s international standing has been raised with respect to preemptive diagnostic testing for COVID-19.
Applying health insurance rapidly to cover COVID-19 treatment, offering data on management and distribution status of medications
A system has been established for monitoring COVID-19 medication inventory data, and medical care facilities are kept informed on the distribution status (by item, region and company) for 35 pharmaceutical categories so that their medication supplies are not exhausted.
Developing government pricing in response to COVID-19
Medical fees covering 41 categories have been set by the government to provide security in dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak, and government support is provided for reimbursing COVID-19-related medical expenses at 10,204 institutions around the country.
Dispatching healthcare professionals
During the past year, HIRA sent 262 of its healthcare professions to the Central Disaster Management Headquarters, screening stations, the National Medical Center, airports, and other locations, helping those on the front lines of the battle to conquer COVID-19.
Becoming the world’s first to publicly open big data on COVID-19 patients
HIRA opened COVID-19 patient datasets to the public for the first time ever, and joint research has been conducted. A website on international cooperation research was opened; disparate data structures and terminology among various institutions were standardized, a database was built, and 412 international distributed research projects have been undertaken in 32 nations, resulting in 37 research papers published on COVID-19 treatments in major journals.
In her award acceptance speech, Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service Executive Director Kim Sun-min said:
“Both the public and healthcare professionals have been exhausted in responding to the protracted COVID-19 pandemic. However, we have not lost hope, and our people are performing their respective roles so that we remain a public institution at the forefront in the effort to eradicate this disease.”
