의료의 왜곡과 의료 생태계 회복

Distorted medical practice and recovery of clinical ecosystem

There has been a growing concern that the recent medical practice in Korea would be distorted. This phenomenon is reflected through the scale of defensive medicine, overuse of certain health technologies, broken healthcare delivery system, high diffusion rate of expensive medical equipment, and competitive introduction of high cost health screening programs without sufficient evidence on their effectiveness and harm. In addition, it becomes more difficult to recruit residents in certain essential medical departments of hospitals. This distortion has been driven by loss of trust among stakeholders, structural contradiction of the healthcare system, irrational reimbursement schedule and method as well as healthcare industry promotion policy not based on the needs of clinical practice field. Le Gland’s metaphors of knights, knaves, pawns suggested a desirable direction of health policy. Healthcare policy that enables to build-up trust and fundamental reformation of health insurance is urgently required to restore the healthcare ecosystem.