Oh Ju-hwan appointed director of HIRA Health Policy Research Institute

The Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) has appointed Oh Ju-hwan, a professor at Seoul National University College of Medicine, as the new director of the Health Policy Research Institute. Following a public recruitment process, Oh is scheduled to officially begin his duties at the Wonju headquarters on September 1, 2024.

Oh, an expert in health policy and international health, aims to shift the health insurance reimbursement and evaluation system from a volume-based model to one centered on health outcomes and patient value. His research agenda includes enhancing patient-centered performance evaluation using Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROM) and Patient-Reported Experience Measures (PREM), improving the transparency of AI-driven reviews, and strengthening the compensation systems for essential and regional medical services.

Additional research priorities for the institute include post-market management of pharmaceuticals, the utilization of health and medical data through international standards, and supporting policy improvements for primary, emergency, and critical care delivery systems.