South Korean court upholds reclamation of COVID-19 treatment fees

A South Korean court has upheld a decision by the National Health Insurance Service to reclaim funds from a hospital that failed to follow mandatory monitoring protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Seoul Administrative Court ruled that a hospital operating in Seoul was justified in having approximately 9 million won in patient management fees reclaimed. During the pandemic, the hospital was designated to provide home treatment services, which required monitoring patients via video calls or other means twice daily to check for symptoms.

The hospital contested the reclamation, arguing that the twice-daily monitoring requirement applied only to the middle of the treatment period and not to the start or end dates. However, the court rejected this interpretation, stating that the essence of home treatment is continuous health monitoring and that the twice-daily requirement must apply throughout the entire duration of the service.