Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance announced Thursday that it held a joint declaration ceremony with seven nursing hospitals in the Yeosu, Suncheon and Gwangyang areas of South Jeolla Province to promote a sound medical culture and eliminate payback practices, at the Yeosu Expo Convention Center.
The ceremony was organized for medical institutions and the insurer to work together to prevent paybacks, fraudulent and excessive hospitalizations, and improper patient solicitation, with the aim of building a medical environment that patients and their families can trust. Financial regulators and the Ministry of Health and Welfare have launched joint crackdowns after the practice of offering paybacks to cancer patients at some nursing hospitals emerged as a social concern.
Hyunsong Nursing Hospital, Ian Nursing Hospital, Medipore Korean Medicine Hospital, Seonam Nursing Hospital, Jungwon Nursing Hospital, Su Nursing Hospital and Top Nursing Hospital adopted a joint declaration with Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance, reaffirming their commitment to voluntary compliance through a cooperative framework to eradicate illegal conduct.
Through the joint declaration, the signatories pledged to prohibit fraudulent and excessive admissions as well as nominal hospitalizations, ban the falsification of medical records, eliminate payback practices including waiving or discounting patient co-payments and refunding medical fees, eradicate patient referral and solicitation activities, and strengthen voluntary compliance through education, inspections and information sharing.
Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance and the participating hospitals plan to place informational materials within their facilities and step up outreach to spread a culture of medical ethics and voluntary compliance. They will also conduct regular internal training and self-inspections to sustain efforts to prevent illegal and improper conduct, and intend to coordinate with relevant authorities on follow-up measures as needed.
"We will continue to support voluntary compliance activities at medical institutions and work together to protect the rights and interests of patients and insurance consumers," a Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance official said.
psj@heraldcorp.com
