Amendment of the Medical Service Act
Although the attraction, inducement, arrangement, and introduction of patients for profits used to be prohibited under the Medical Act as a rule, said activities have been allowed for foreign patients (excluding foreigners residing in Korea under the Health and Welfare Ministry Enforcement Rule) through the amendment of the Medical Act in January 2009 (Article 27.3 of the Medical Act).
Operation of the Registration System
Medical institutions and agents for attracting foreign patients are required to register with certain requirements to prevent chaos arising from the indiscreet attraction of foreign patients and control constantly the domestic medical market (Article 27.2 of the Medical Act).
- The Ministry of Justice has newly established a foreign patient-only visa; it issues the visa to foreign patients and their guardians. The visa is issued to patients and their spouses or family accompanying them for nursing and who enter Korea for diagnosis & treatment and recuperation in medical institutions at the invitation of the medical institutions and agents for attracting foreign patients.
- The "C-3-M" visa will be issued for short-term travel (maximum of 90 days), and the "G-1-M" visa, for long-term travel (for 91 days or more, up to 6 months). When continuous treatment or recuperation is required, the travel period can be extended. In case a patient entering Korea with "C-3-M" qualification stays in Korea for more than 91 days, he/she needs to change the travel qualification to "G-1-M," and alien registration is required. For countries that signed an agreement for multiple-entry visa with Korea, a multiple-entry visa will be issued; otherwise, a single-entry visa will be issued.
- For a foreign patient's visa application convenience, visa issued in the form of confirmation of visa issurance is also allowed. Therefore, medical institutions and agents for attracting foreign patients can apply and receive various visas on behalf of the foreign patients concerned. To consolidate the management responsibility of such medical institutions and agents, invitation is restricted, or visa issuance applied for by the institutions concerned can be restricted depending on the extent of illegal stay of the invited foreign patients.
- Training courses for medical interpreters are managed and operated in an integrated manner by the Korea Hu man Resource Development Institute for Health and Welfare (KHRDI), a specialized human resources training agency in the health and welfare field (government agency). Courses for international hospital marketing experts or international medical coordinators are operated by colleges/universities, graduate schools, Korea Tourism Organization & each local tourism
organization, Human Resources Development Service of Korea as an affiliate of the Ministry of Labor, and private academies.
- For the curriculum, although there is some difference in each course, theoretical education as mainly required in the Global Healthcare such as medical terms, medical interpretation process & communication, Medical Service Act & international medical insurance, medical disputes, and international marketing is basically provided. Likewise, practices are simultaneously conducted in relation to patient care in actual medical institutions. The instructors consist of Korea's top experts and front line workers with regard to the attraction of foreign patients. In this manner, efficient.
- The resolution of medical disputes with foreign patients is the same as the resolution method for domestic patients. Accordingly, foreign patients do not receive specifically discriminative treatments or disadvantages irrationally.
- With regard to the medical dispute resolution involving foreign patients, note that the starting points of medical disputes involving domestic and foreign patients are different. In other words, issues such as which country's court will govern the medical disputes (competent court), which country's law will apply (governing law), etc., should be decided in the first place. In this context, a medical institution needs to agree upon said issues before signing a medical agreement with a foreign patient.
- In relation to the competent court and governing law, the competent court and governing law can be a Korean court and the Korean law, respectively, according to the Conflict of Laws, since the issues are practically related to Korea and the medical accident occurred (illegal medical service region) in Korea.
- Note, however, that the resolution of medical disputes with foreign patients by lawsuit seems to pose many difficulties to both medical institutions and patients. To foreign patients, a court trial cannot be advantageous to them since it is held in a foreign country where institutional and cultural systems are different. Moreover, they assume the burden of possibly huge economic and time cost of the resolution of such disputes. On the part of a medical institution, the unconditional application of domestic laws without considering foreign patients can be an obstacle in attracting foreign patients.
- In this regard, the need to review actively a rational dispute resolution system characterized by fairness and promptness meeting the needs of both parties arises. An alternative dispute resolution (ADR) - a method of resolving such dispute outside of lawsuits - can be a good example. ADR can be valid since such method including agreement and coordination is a general trend and the disputes resolved by lawsuits - including civil and criminal cases in terms of Korea's medical dispute resolution process - make up only 6.0%.
- Among the ADRs, a rational resolution method can be arbitration. This refers to a procedure for resolving a dispute between the parties concerned via arbitration decision by an arbitrator (or arbitrators) selected through agreement between both parties. The essence of arbitration is that it is a private trial that differs from reconciliation and coordination under the court trial by the concession of a party or both parties. The arbitration system is a form of single trial system; hence the prompt settlement of arbitration and low cost compared to a court trial. By selecting experts in related fields as arbitrators, a dispute can be resolved in line with reality. Arbitration is also ideal in terms of maintaining confidentiality since it is a non-open resolution method. In particular, the effect of arbitration decision among the countries that joined the United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards is mutually acknowledged. Therefore, arbitration is widely used as a dispute resolution system. According to the convention, the arbitration decision made in Korea can be recognized and executed in foreign countries and vice versa.
- At the WMTC (World Medical Tourism Conference) related to medical tourism, jurists, medical doctors, medical institution-related personnel, and foreign patients attraction agents from many countries worldwide agreed that using the arbitration system is rational. In Korea, several hospitals signing a medical cooperation agreement with the US Armed Forces stationed in Korea specify arbitration as the means of resolving medical disputes in the contract. Indeed, using the arbitration system can be an objective, rational method of resolving any and all medical disputes with foreign patients.
- Several important and related government policies are as follows: First, the government plans to use the medical arbitration system actively for the effective and fair resolution of medical disputes with foreign patients. Specifically, the government has consolidated the function and role of the Central Medical Assessment and Mediation Commission set forth in Article 70 of the Medical Service Act, i.e., to be in charge of medical arbitration in view of the current situation wherein a specialized medical dispute arbitration organization does not exist. To carry out actual arbitration, the Bureau has been established within Korea Health Industry Development Institute(KHIDI) to take charge of dispute resolution-related issues including receipt of dispute application, consultation, and provision of assistance to arbitration work. Second, the government is actively reviewing product development as well as an efficient use method of compensation insurance for medical accidents to prepare the mechanism in medical accident compensation. Third, the government is doing its best to enact the Medical Dispute Resolution Act (tentative name) for the effective resolution of medical disputes with domestic patients not to mention foreign patients.
- The government supports institutions related to foreign patients attraction to consolidate their specialized capabilities (Medical institution: diagnosis & treatment of foreign patients; Agent: patient attraction marketing). Toward this end, the government designates agencies possessing basic capability and growth potential for foreign patients attraction as certified medical travel agencies to provide successful cases to be benchmarked by other agents. The certified medical travel agencies are selected by main language (English, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Arabic) biannually through the selection commission consisting of experts in related fields.
