DPM Choo ‘will finalize telemedicine plans this year'

Deputy Prime Minister Kyung-Ho Choo will finalize plans to improve the pilot program for non-face-to-face medical treatment within the year

Conducts Emergency Economy-related Ministers' Meeting...will institutionalize the system for Korean nationals residing abroad

The direction of the government's policy to institutionalize non-face-to-face treatment has been set to institutionalize non-face-to-face treatment for overseas Korean nationals and prepare an improvement plan for the domestic non-face-to-face treatment pilot project within the year.

 

Deputy Prime Minister Kyung-Ho Choo presided over the Emergency Economy-related Ministers' Meeting and Export Investment Measures Meeting on the 27th and finalized the regulatory innovation measures for new industries.

 

Deputy Prime Minister Kyung-Ho Choo presides over the Emergency Economy-related Ministers

Among the projects, the 4 regulatory innovation tasks in the field of bio healthcare field are ▲clarification of non-medical standards to foster the healthcare service industry; ▲institutionalization of non-face-to-face treatment; ▲allowing joint establishment and use of living modified organism (LMO) research facilities; and ▲expansion of subjects for rapid processing of advanced regenerative biopharmaceuticals.

 

◆Non-face-to-face treatment = The government plans to institutionalize non-face-to-face treatment for overseas Korean residents and improve the domestic pilot project for non-face-to-face treatment within the year.

 

The government has decided to promote revision of the Medical Service Act to include Korean nationals residing abroad into the scope of eligible patients.

 

The bill to amend the Medical Service Act (presented by Rep.

 

Jong-Seong Lee) is pending at the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Legislative subcommittee level.

 

Furthermore, to resolve public inconvenience and improve access to medical care, the ministers decided to supplement and promote the pilot project by comprehensively reflecting opinions from various sectors, through discussion with the pilot project advisory panel, public hearings, etc.

 

The goal is to contribute to improving medical accessibility and public health by improving and institutionalizing the pilot project for non-face-to-face treatment.

 

Deputy Prime Minister Kyung-Ho Choo said, "We will institutionalize non-face-to-face treatment for Korean residents residing above, whose safety has been verified through the regulatory sandbox, and will improve the domestic pilot project for non-face-to-face treatment within the year." ◆Healthcare service = Due to the diversification of healthcare services, the government saw the need to clarify the uncertainties as to whether each service constitutes a medical practice (can only be performed by medical personnel) under the Medical Service Act.

 

Accordingly, the government decided to clearly define whether certain medical services should be included or excluded from medical practice and expand the scope so that various healthcare services using new digital devices can be launched in line with technological developments.

 

The goal is to create a foundation for revitalizing the development of new services by resolving uncertainty among non-medical healthcare service companies.

 

The government decided to revise the 'Non-medical healthcare service guidelines and casebook' next year after conducting a pilot demand survey and collecting opinions in Q1 next year.

 

◆ LMO research facility = Companies had been burdened with high facility construction costs because the establishment and use of living modified organism (LMO) research facilities were prohibited.

 

It was decided that a bill to amend to the ‘LMO Act' will be presented next year to improve this and allow joint establishment and use of research facilities to develop and test LMOs.

 

The government predicted that this would contribute to revitalizing research by alleviating the cost burden of establishing separate facilities for relevant companies.

 

◆Advanced regenerative biopharmaceuticals = An expedited processing system (that reduces the review period from 115 days to 90 days) is in place for the accelerated approval and review of advanced regenerative biopharmaceuticals, but its scope of application was limited.

 

Accordingly, the government decided to expand the scope of interpretation for 'cases where there is no alternative treatment' subject to expedited review.

 

In other words, the scope will then include everything from ‘cases where there are no domestically approved drugs’ to ‘cases where the drug demonstrated improved safety and efficacy over existing drugs.’ The goal is to reduce the burden of approval and review on advanced regenerative biopharmaceuticals by reducing the time required for approval and improving public access to drugs.