Innovative Techs Encouraged

The Korean government will establish an incentive system which is applied to medical devices using innovative technologies such as robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and 3D printing.
The Korean government will establish an incentive system which is applied to medical devices using innovative technologies such as robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and 3D printing.

 

An evaluation and compensation system will be applied to medical devices using innovative technologies such as robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and 3D printing.

The Korean government will support for their early releases by offering consulting on their technological evaluation through the National Evidence-Based Healthcare Collaborating Agency and their registration as the paid items in national health insurance through the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service, even before they get approvals from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on April 16 that they held the first Healthcare Industry System Improvement Committee meeting and finalized directions for an improvement of eight systems in the medical device sector including apparatuses, machinery, devices, and materials.

First, new medical technologies and devices, which have improved clinical effects and cost effectiveness compared to existing medical technologies, receive incentives when their prices are set in health insurance. The government will step up its efforts to enhance specialties in evaluating new medical technologies for innovative medical devices based on robotics, AI, and 3D printing. Experts like biomedical engineers will be brought in and work together with medical doctors in the five areas, such as internal medicine, surgery, other departments than internal medicine and surgery, dental, and oriental medicine, under the New Medical Technology Evaluation Committee, which consists mainly of medical doctors.

The categorization and management system of absorbable hemostatic supplies used in surgical operations will be unified into that of therapeutic materials, and their health insurance costs will be separately set. Products approved before the year of 2012 were classified into medical supplies and so their health insurance costs were set. However, products approved after 2012 could not make a foray into the market as they were categorized as therapeutic materials, the insurance costs of which could not be separately calculated.

"These days, the roles of newly developed medical devices and technologies that can support “value-based medical care” which increases the effectiveness of treatment and patient benefits as well as reduces costs, really matter," said Kim Gang-rip, director of health policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “We will continue to improve systems and give supports so that the healthcare industry will develop into a future growth engine."

 

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