Korean Health Screening Society opposes government policy reforms

The Korean Health Screening Society has called for the withdrawal of government reforms regarding the specimen testing entrustment system for national health screenings. During a press conference for its 12th Autumn Academic Conference, the society warned that the proposed changes could undermine the infrastructure of primary care medical institutions and increase their financial burdens.

Key concerns include the planned reduction in specimen testing fees and the shift toward direct payments from the National Health Insurance Service to testing laboratories. The society’s simulations suggest that general health screenings could result in losses of approximately 3,600 to 7,000 KRW per case, depending on the tests included. Members argue that current compensation fails to cover the administrative and labor costs involved in patient consultation, blood collection, specimen management, and follow-up counseling.

The society also criticized large general hospitals for focusing on high-cost, non-reimbursable VIP screening services while discontinuing standard national health screenings. Additionally, the group proposed several policy improvements, including:

• Establishing a follow-up consultation fee to better connect screenings with chronic disease treatment. • Addressing gender imbalances in screening items, such as lowering the starting age for dyslipidemia tests for women. • Including PSA tests for early prostate cancer detection. • Resolving delays and errors in the payment of screening fees to medical institutions.