Project

IFS

Healthcare system improvements for the establishment of the primary care physician system

○ Research topic 1. Introducing a primary care physician system
- Research Objectives
1. Examine trends in primary care systems in major countries around the world
2. Analyze overseas cases to generate evidence for introducing a primary care system in Korea
3. Review the current situation in Korea and consider obstacles to the introduction of the primary care physician system
4. Recommendations for the introduction and development of the primary care physician system in Korea
- Contents of the study
1. Status and cases of primary care system overseas and domestically:
- Major overseas countries operate a primary care physician system to ensure access to healthcare and sustainability of healthcare financing.
1) In the U.S., a primary care physician system is in place under private health insurance, and healthier patients are managed by primary care physicians to lower the cost and better the quality of healthcare, benefiting insurers, providers, and patients.
2) The French primary care system (Le medecin traitant) covers 85% of insured people (43 million in 2008) and 96% of chronically ill people with a primary care physician, who can be a specialist, but 99.5% choose a general practitioner.
3) The Dutch primary care system is centered on the general practitioner, and all citizens are free to choose a general practitioner.
- Limitations of domestic primary healthcare pilot projects
1) Limited to specific diseases and patient-centered disease treatment and management and lack of team-based care
2) Lack of integrated organization due to fragmented business entities, repeatedly implementing pilot projects, and ignoring the voice of the medical field
3) Need to change the structure of primary healthcare (clinic-level medical institutions ⤑ functional primary healthcare clinics and specialized clinics)
2. Derive implications from analyzing and reviewing primary care systems in prior countries
3. Barriers to the introduction of the primary care system in Korea: cultural background, health care delivery system, manpower, payment system, legal system
4. Proposing the introduction and development direction of the primary care system in Korea: functions and roles, structure, manpower, training and certification system, future primary care system, etc.

○ Research topic 2. How to establish high-quality primary healthcare
- Research Objectives
1. Evidence-based recommendations for establishing quality primary medical care
2. Strategies to build social consensus on the categories of primary care specialists
- Research contents
1. Need for social consensus on the concept of primary medical care
2. Training of primary healthcare professionals
- Organization of primary care physicians centered on specialties (family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, etc.)
- How to organize multidisciplinary teams that include specialists in special diseases (provide opportunities for single specialists to be trained to function as primary care physicians if they wish)