KANZ, 2011, Hobart, Australia

April 28, 2011

Health
Information
WCMS
EDI
EMRDW System KyoungYong JEE, Ph.D
Mailing
e-Community ASP D
e-Fax Group CRM
OCS
e-CTI
e-Search e-
Vice President at ETRI
IBS
Automation Professor at UST
HRMEIP MES
PABX
KMS e-IPS kyjee@etri.re.kr
EDMS ERM ERP
GW e-Market
SCM +82-42-860-5666 / +82-42-10-9744-5003
CONTENTS

PART I Why u-Health in Korea

PART II Killer Application: Patient Monitoring
PART III U-Healthcare Pilot Project Trial in Korea
PART IV Case Study of Tele-health
PART V Case Study of Smart Health
PART VI Market Evaluation
PART I Why u-Health in Korea
PART II Killer Application: Patient Monitoring
PART III U-Healthcare Pilot Project Trial in Korea
PART IV Case Study of Tele-health
PART V Case Study of Smart Health
PART VI Market Evaluation

PART I: WHY U-HEALTH IN KOREA

Bandwidth Age of dial-up Age of TCP/IP (True Internet)
(unit: bps)

8M Fixed Broadband Mobile Broadband

Real time streaming service (NOW)
Network Game WiBro HSDPA
1M Remote - education MP3 DMB MPEG 2 Mobile
ADSL,
M- GIF Video-Phone Cable Modem Internet
JPEG, GIF MPEG 4 Internet Cafe
128K
ISDN

56K
Fixed Internet
Web Surfing

Dial -up service

Chatting
28.8K iPhone
FTP E-mail
Text -based E-mail
9.6K Fax

1990 1997 1998 1999 2005 2010~

4
 Korea is one of the first countries to consider ICT sector as an
economic stimulus

 For every 10% increase in Internet connectivity, the country’s GDP

increase by 1.3% (World Bank Report)

 1% increase in broadband penetration correspond to US$2,000 per

capita higher GDP(CTIA Report)

 Each percentage point of broadband adoption adds roughly 293,000

private sector jobs a year to the US economy (Brookings Institution)

5
 Green by IT
 Green by ICT : Announced “Low Charcoal Society” with the use of ICT
technology
 To increase smart work share from 2.4% (2009) to 20%(2013) and finally
30%(2020) in public administration service
 To promote the use of net book computers and e-paper in work place

 To provide digital text book, electronic board and IPTV in school to be

environment-friendly
 Green Traffic by ITS
 To establish ITS, Intelligent Environment Surveillance System and Disaster
Alerting System by 2013 with context of green of SOC
 U-Healthcare by IPTV
 To prepare patient monitoring system based on IPTV by 2013 aiming at
decreasing 15% of hospital visits
 Benefits: chronic patients could save transportation costs and energy with
the use of patient monitoring system
 Penetration of Medical Information System (Korea)

OCS 98.1

PACS
87.2
O/L Reservation OCS : 92.5% (3288)
76.36
EMR 30.9 PACS(Radiology) : 79.5% (2826)

CRM 20.09 EMR : 39.5% (1404)

* Source: Univ. of Minnesota, 2010
ERP 16.36

Tele-medicine 5.35

Source: Network Times(2006)

Korea is heading for super-aged Society
8
<Table > National Pension Take-up Rate Trends in Select Countries

Country 1960 2000 국가 1960 2000

Australia* 52 68 Japan 32 127
Austria 59 87 Netherlands 80 107
Belgium - 101 Norway 88 102
New
Canada 99 97 71 95
Zealand
Denmark 82 101 Sweden 100 100
Finland 97 100 Switzerland 100 100
France - 100 UK 79 104
Germany - 100 US 72 93
Iceland 87 96 Italy - 100

* Pension take-up rate: The ratio of pensioners to post-retirement age population.

•Although there is a basic pension program in Australia, about 30% of the elderly are not
eligible to receive benefits from this program, based on their income or assets.
Source: Scurggs (2007), p.153.

9
 Medical expense from the elderly over 65 :
 US$ 5.6B : 24.4% of total medical expense in 2005
 US$ 12.7B : 31.6% of total medical expense in 2010
 The ratio of medical expense from the elderly over 65 (’05~’10)
 ‘05 : 24.4% -> ’10 : 31.6%
 The frequency of hospital visit of the elderly over 65
 ’05 : 53.73 days -> ’10 : 67.03 days
 Cf> average frequency of Korean’s hospital visit(2010) : 27.57 days
 Principal reason for hospital visit : senile cataract , cerebral infarction, pneumonia, high
blood pressure, arthritis
Annual medical expense per capita by ages (unit : US$)
senile cataract: 백내장
cerebral infarction: 뇌경색
Pneumonia: 폐렴
Arthritis: 관절염

Source : National Health Insurance Corp. of Korea 2010 10

 (unit: 1,000 person)

Average
2006 2007 2008 2009
increase(%)
High blood pressure 4,270 4,601 4,946 5,232(10.5) 7.5

Diabetes 1,764 1,879 1,951 2,060(4.1) 5.6

Arthritis 4,485 4,880 5,137 5,295(10.7) 6.0

Source: National Health Insurance Corps, 『2006~2010 Data Book』

Arthritis: 관절염
11
 Cancer in USA - 1999
 Improve quality of life New cases Potential lives
Related deaths saved by early
 Improving patient outcomes 200k diagnosis

by earlier diagnosis 160k

120k

80k
survival Breast cancer (USA)
40k

Treatment cost ($ 000)

80% 160
% alive 15 years after diagnosis

Treatment
70% cost 140 0
Lung Colorectum Prostate Breast Ovary
60% 120
50% 100
40% 80
30% 60 • Reduce cost
20% 40
10% 20
– Enabling earlier diagnosis
0% 0 and thus lowering cost of
No
cancer
Stage
0
Stage
I
Stage
II
Stage
III
Stage
IV
subsequent treatments
Source: www.r2tech.com, based on
data from American Cancer Society
Prostate:전립선, Ovary: 난소12
PART I Why u-Health in Korea
PART II Killer Application: Patient Monitoring
PART III U-Healthcare Pilot Project Trial in Korea
PART IV Case Study of Tele-health
PART V Case Study of Smart Health
PART VI Market Evaluation

PART II: KILLER APPLILICATION:

PATIENT MONITORING
Strategy for Increasing Healthy Life Expectancy to 80 Years (2030)

Maximize ! Quality of Life (increase healthy life expectancy)

substitute to 1) Timely Care & Reduction of lifetime Healthcare costs

2) Accessibility- Convenience

3) Cost/Benefit- Enhancement of Satisfaction

 What? :  Two main factors for rising healthcare costs

Providing convenient, safe and affordable
healthcare to all Korean, whiling keeping the ratio  Increase in the incidence of chronic
of total healthcare costs to GDP, which tends to diseases> Timely care
increase in aging, low-birth societies, under
control, so as to prevent diseases and help them > Patient Monitoring !
live a healthy life.
 Increase in elderly diseases >
 How? : Expanding home care and nursing care
Patient Monitoring Technology
> Patient Monitoring !
 Definition
 Home nursing care is the technology that can transform this low-
tech business into a efficient, timely extension of primary care
treatment facilities is available
 Current
 More than 9M people, in the US, received home healthcare
services provided by more than 12,000 medical professionals
 Benefit
 Telemedicine and applications over BB connections to the home
can reduce or eliminate a substantial amount of institutional care
and treatment for the disabled
 The resulting benefits include reduced ER visits, lower hospital re-
admissions, and improved quality of life

15
 Nursing Home
 Telemedicine applications interconnect nursing homes with
primary care facilities
 And it would reduce the risk of transport injury, lower costs, and
provide real-time monitoring of the most severe cases outside of the
hospital
 Most nursing home patients require daily vital sign collection and dialogue with
a skilled staff, so the physician and nursing shortages present a serious health
problem
 Located near hospitals in order to allow for optimal delivery of
healthcare
 Another opportunity for technology solutions to reduce costs and
improve care
 Studies shows a high-degree of patient and physician satisfaction
for routine checkups and follow ups at the nursing homes

16
PART I Why u-Health in Korea
PART II Killer Application: Patient Monitoring
PART III U-Healthcare Pilot Project Trial in Korea
PART IV Case Study of Tele-health
PART V Case Study of Smart Health
PART VI Market Evaluation

PART III: U-HEALTHCARE PILOT

PROJECT TRIAL IN KOREA
u-Health Care Services and Systems at Large Medical Institutions
Hospital Description Trial
 The first hospital to launch a dedicated u-health service division
Korea University Hospital  Provided u-healthcare services to 6,000 people with limited access to
Mar. 2004
(u-Health Care Division) medical care, jointly with the Public Health Office of Seongbuk-gu Ward of
Seoul between Apr. 2006 and Aug. 2008.
 RFID-based USN system
Gil Hospital
 e-Medical card system launched in Jan. 2006 Jul. 2005
(u-Health Care Center)  Cooperation agreement with KT, ETRI and Motorola on u-health care
 Development of RFID-linked, real-time resource management system
SNU Hospital in Bundang  Online viewing of consultation records enabled
Jul. 2005
(u-Health Taskforce Team)  u-Healthcare services for the lone elderly
 HER service & development of an information sharing system
 Linking u-healthcare-related accomplishments under the Catholic Medical
Catholic Medical Center Center’s medical informatization project (CMCnU) and the accomplishments
of the u-Healthcare division Sep. 2007
(u-Health Division)  15 R&D tasks carried out in 2007
 A medical informatization project conducted b/w Jul. 2006 and Dec. 2009
 Smart card-aided parking system
 Consultation location & information system
Severance Hospital  Prescription delivery system. Patient safety system using electronic tags
Nov. 2005
(u-Severance)  IT-aid upgrade of ward service
 Patient information supplied through web servers and terminals
 Viewing of patients’ medical information
 Target area
Type Description Year
(Service provider)
 Jointly conducted by three university hospitals and three SNU Hospital ↔
Tele- public health centers Yeoncheon/
1990
medicine  Project interrupted due to technical problems including slow Hwacheon/ Uljin
connection speed. Health Center

 Telemedicine pilot project for dementia patients

Tele-  Dementia consultations, rehabilitation training and dementia- SNU Hospital
medicine
1996 Dementia Center
specialized manpower development conducted using a T1-
speed dedicated line.
 Teleconsultation system for rural communities Chonam National
Tele-  Video teleconsultation system, design and development of a University Hospital↔
medicine
2004 Gokseong-gun,
teleconsultation database
 Trial operation of a video teleconsultation system. Jeonnam

 Teleconsultation system for armed forces

Armed Forces Medical
Tele-  Teleconsultation services by physicians in remote locations
2005 Command ↔ 6th
medicine  Measurement of b/p, body temperature, pulse and blood Division Medical Unit
glucose and electrocardiogram, etc.
 u-Health care system for residents of remote areas Ministry of Public
Tele-
 Teleconsultation services for island and other remote areas. Administration and
medicine 2006
 Measurement of b/p, pulse and blood glucose, and Security↔ Sinan-gun,
electrocardiogram, etc. Jeonnam

19
Dementia: 치매
 Type Description Year Target area
 Telemedicine service primarily provided by public health centers and
nursing homes 2006 Busan/Daegu
Telemedicine  Including remote islands such as Ulleungdo and Dokdo
(including health
Mgt and visiting  Telemedicine service provided through hospital ships and vehicles Chungnam
nurse services)  Telemedicine service for workers at industrial complex 2007 Gyeonggi
 process improvement for u-Visiting nurse service Busan
Mgt of the safety  Managing the safety of the elderly living alone by monitoring their
2007 Masan
of lone elderly activities using sensors.
Emergency  Emergency medical service provided using telemedicine equipment. 2007 Busan

Children’s health  Managing the health of children to prevent ADHD. 2007 Gyeonggi

 Community health service for managing the health and fitness of

2007 Masan
Community local residents.
health  Lifestyle Mgt service to ensure the health of community members by
2007 Chungnam
managing their diet and exercise.
Gangneung
 USN-based telemonitoring system Jul. 2008
Yeongyang-
Tele-health  Public health center-provided telemedicine, u-visiting nurse service, ~
gun
monitoring home care service for cardiac patients, u-fitness/strengthening Dec.
Boryeong/Se
service for frail elderly persons 2009
osan)
Smart-care  u-Health Service using Smartphones and IPTV Oct.2010 Nationwide
* u-Health care pilot projects, touching broad-ranging areas of health including health Mgt, visiting nurse service and the health of the elderly
and children and community health, underway since 2006.
20
ADHD: 주의력 결핍과잉활동장애
 A sample scenario
 January 2011, a teleconsultation room in the Police Hospital in Garakbon-dong, Seoul: The image
of Mr. A, a cost guard officer stationed in the remote island of Dokdo, who had undergone
orthopedic surgery procedure a month before in this hospital, is displayed on the computer
screen. Mr. A is having a videoconference with his surgeon as a part of the post-surgery follow-up
care after he was discharged from the hospital, with the latter now examining the site of operation
through the computer screen.
 After the consultation of Mr. A, Mr. B, who is also a cost guard officer made a videoconference call
to a doctor at a public health center in the nearby island of Ulleung for his cold symptoms and
received a prescription. Mr. B did not need to carry his prescription to a pharmacy. The prescribed
medicine was, instead, delivered to him by medical delivery service.
 Pros: Elimination of geographic pockets with no access to medical care
 About 4.5M Koreans have limited access to medical care with 860T
residing in islands and remote rural areas; 630T residing in prisons
and other institutional settings in which access to medical service is
limited; 980T being disabled or mobility-impaired or challenged; 2M
Koreans receive in-home care service.
 Cons: High costs
 “Demand for u-healthcare is likely to be modest, especially
compared to the initial investment requirement. Except in special
circumstances, people in large cities where there are medical
facilities in most neighborhoods will have few incentives to turn to
teleconsultations”
PART I Why u-Health in Korea
PART II Killer Application: Patient Monitoring
PART III U-Healthcare Pilot Project Trial in Korea
PART IV Case Study of Tele-health
PART V Case Study of Smart Health
PART VI Market Evaluation

PART IV: CASE STUDY OF

TELE-HEALTH
<Figure> Concept Map of USN-based Telemonitoring

Teleconsultation room Pharmacy

Delivery of
Tele-
prescribed
health
Remote consultation/ medications
care
Patient Movable Remote diagnostic/ management
service remote video Verification and
bioinformation consultation output of the
measuring Pharmacist Website
u-Healhthcare Center prescription
device
Transmission of
bioinformation e-Health System Authentication key
for prescription
issue
Patient (home) Transmission of
•Processing of Telemonitoring Medical institution
bioinformation of bioinformation
accumulated bio-data
u-Visiting •Analysis of
nurse
Remote
measurement results
service Movable Movable Issue of medical
remote measure consultation/ •u-Health CDSS
Visiting instructions and
nurse bioinformation ment diagnostic/
measuring prescriptions
device management Website Doctor
device
Integrated Public Health
Movable remote
bioinformation Information Center
measuring device

Off-Line ADSL/FTTx
Mobile Visiting
Auto WCDMA/ New public health PC nurse
HSDPA information system
23
 Project location
• Service piloted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare since Jan.
2008
• in 3 areas with limited access to medical care, including
Gangneung of Gangwon-do, Yeongyang of Gyeongbuk and
Boryeong of Chungnam.
 Results
• Tele-consultations conducted 1,835 times on 1,637 patients, in cumulative
total, for 87 suspected diseases in 9 departments including the cardiology
dept. as of end of June 2008.
 Patient Satisfaction
• 92.5% answered ‘Satisfied’ and 92.8% answered ‘Will continue using
the service.’
• The possibility to receive consultation at any time from anywhere and
the quality of consultation provided appear to be two main satisfaction
factors.
• Most respondents had high blood pressure (80%) or were diabetic
(11%) .
• Time spent to receive consultation, including travel time and wait in
the doctor’s office shortened from 445 minutes to 76 minutes.
 Considerable cost savings
• “The average cost of a hospital visit by an outpatient amounts to
about US$ 2.3 in transportation costs and US$17.3 in consultation fee.
• Given that the total annual # of prescriptions issued being 700M, the
total savings would amount to US$ 13B” says a project member.
 Project Initiator
• National Information Society Agency (NIA), Ministry of Health and Welfare(MHW)
 Background
• To meet the rising demand for public health care service
• Public health care facilities account for only 15% of all medical facilities in Korea,
85% of them being private facilities, pointing to the need to expand public medical
infrastructure.
 Goals
• To facilitate access to public medical service for residents of islands and remote
mountainous areas
• Ensure the health of low-income populations unable to afford costly medical
service
• Eliminate social and geographic pockets with limited access to medical care and
provide equal access to medical care for all in the society
 Target Areas
• Gangwon (Gangneung), Chungnam (Boryeong and Seosan) and Gyeongbuk
(Yeongyang-gun)

26
 Results
• Implemented to provide better services to communities in remote islands and
mountainous areas with limited access to medical care
• In 2008, teleconsultation, e-prescription and customized u-visiting nurse services,
and home care services for cardiac patients provided through public health
clinics, in collaboration with public health institutions, local general hospitals and
pharmacies.
• In 2009, the u-health model was further improved with more local residents using
u-health services.
• From this pilot project, we had better understanding of practical u-health model
indispensable for improving health care in the areas with limited access to
medical services

 Future Plans
• Use of the project experience to assist legal and regulatory improvements related
to medical care, including the amendment of the Medical Service Act.

27
PART I Why u-Health in Korea
PART II Killer Application: Patient Monitoring
PART III U-Healthcare Pilot Project Trial in Korea
PART IV Case Study of Tele-health
PART V Case Study of Smart Health
PART VI Market Evaluation

PART V: CASE STUDY OF

SMART CARE
  Korea has been showing successful results in terms of penetration &
use of fixed and mobile networks
 And leads IT innovation initiatives as the test-bed for innovation
- Rate of broadband use: 77.8% (2010)
- Rate of broadband use of preschoolers (age 3 to 5): 63.0% (2010)
- Rate of mobile internet use: 59.3% (2010)

Broadband use in Korea Mobile internet use in Korea

76.5% 77.2% 77.8% 59.3%

70.2% 72.8% 74.1% 75.5% 52.5% 54.9%
65.5% 45.1% 47.7%
59.4%
40.2% 42.8%
36.1%
32.3%

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Source: Korea Internet and Security Agency(2010) 29

 The smart media big bang set off in Korea in 2010
 Smartphone users: jumped 15-fold in 2010 from 2009.

 Wireless content: Wireless traffic and mobile apps increased 5-

fold and 4.4-fold in 2010 from 2009.
 Networks: Evolution from WiBro and 3G to LTE-Advanced(4G)

Smart Devices Wireless Contents

Smartphone users Wireless traffic

10M(April 23, 2011)

15-fold increase
5-fold increase
7M(2010) 1,569TB(Oct. 2010)
470K(2009) 316TB(Oct.
20009)
Tablet PC users Mobile apps

10-fold increase 4.4-fold increase

18.6
billion(2010E)
200K 4.2 billion(2009)
2M 30
(2010) (2011E) (2012E-) Source: Korea Communications Commission(2010)
 Mobile Phone Users in the Elderly
Unit: %

Total Age 10~49 Age 50~59 Over 60

Total 83.0 93.0 92.0 68.5

Male 85.3 92.8 95.9 77.8
Female 80.7 93.1 88.0 59.1
Divide 4.6 0.3 7.9 18.7

31
 Target Population and Period
 12,000 patient (the world’s largest size) for a 3-year period

 Project Initiator
 MKE(The Ministry of Knowledge Economy) with SKT Consortium and LG
Electronics Consortium as the two main project managers:
 SKT Consortium :
 Having SKT, Samsung Electronics and Insung Information as its members,
the consortium provides u-health services to 8,000 patients with conditions
such as diabetes, high blood pressure or chronic pulmonary disease, and
cancer survivors, through 7 large hospitals (Gangbuk Samsung Hospital
and the National Cancer Center, etc.) and over 130 clinics and care
facilities.
 LG Electronics Consortium :
 This consortium made up of LG Electronics, LGU+ and SH
Pharmaceuticals provides u-health services to 4,000 patients with
conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes and metabolic syndrome
through 4 large hospitals (Kyungpook National University Hospital, etc.) and
more than 38 clinics.

32
 Project Summary
 Implementing a monitoring system without consultation by doctors in
which patients check their own health status using network connected
devices and the resulting health data are transmitted to medical facilities.
 Personal portable devices such as the cell phone (smartphone), IPTV
and portable health monitoring devices linked to the system.

 Expected Benefits and Impact

 The project is expected to usher in the era of u-health care in which
various communications devices, in addition to medical devices proper,
will be used to monitor health.
 The project is also expected to contribute to creating an early
environment for providing customized medical care and health mgt
services, adapted for different national, regional and natural
environments and the health status of individual patients.

33
PART I Why u-Health in Korea
PART II Killer Application: Patient Monitoring
PART III U-Healthcare Pilot Project Trial in Korea
PART IV Case Study of Tele-health
PART V Case Study of Smart Health
PART VI Market Evaluation

PART VI: MARKET EVALUATION

 Technology System Concept Map
 Enables easy at-home urine tests for elderly persons or
chronic patients to detect signs of endocrinal or kidney-
UroRead related disorders.
Personal Uroanalysis Reading  The world’s smallest portable urine analyzer of the size of
a cigarette pack, made using LED and optical fiber
waveguide.

BioShirts  Monitoring of bioinformation during exercise and daily

Biometric Data Detecting
BioPatch
Biometric Data Detecting
activities. Size: 50 X 34 X 14 (mm)
 Monitoring of biometric data including electrocardiogram, Weight: 19.6g
tri-axis acceleration, temperature and respiratory signals.
 Patches that take electrocardiograms and measure cardiac
acceleration signals.
Size: 45 X 28 X 10 (mm)
 Using Bluetooth LAN connection. Weight: 19.5g

 A special mobile phone for the elderly with the ability to

Emergency phone automatically detect emergency situations such as falls
and request assistance.
 Fall detection sensor (carried on the waist belt) + location
tracking.

PROMES  A network-based service managing elderly persons’

medicine schedule and medicine administration
PROactive Medication System
information.
 Development and implementation of a u-health test-bed
platform.
U-Health Platform  Support for a wide variety of healthcare services for
managing health and fitness.
 IEEE 11073 (ISO TC215) PHD-based device data.
 Data collected can be converted into a HL7 CDA document.
* Other technologies include computer-aided diagnostic technology (detection of pulmonary nodules, measurement of bone age), software-based bone
density meter, daily life support and life coaching system for the elderly, calorie tracker, smart shoes, home health care gateway. 35
 Industrial Trends Market Size (estimated)
 Principal Companies  Positive future market outlook:
 Samsung Electronics: A B2B strategy distributing  The # of companies engaged in u-healthcare service, merely 3 or 4 years
medical devices for hospitals and centered on ago, stood at over 100 as of March 2011.
transactions between pharmaceuticals companies.
- Acquisition of Medison, an ultrasound monitor maker,  Amid the accelerating convergence between IT and traditional industries, the
in Dec. 2010 integration of IT in the healthcare field is steadily increasing.
- Dr. M, an application for smart pads, under  IT spending in the Korean health care sector steadily on the rise:
development jointly with Bit Computer.
- Clinical trial plan for Roche’s biosimilar Mabthera
 The 15.1% rate of growth in annual average is estimated to even surpass the rate of
submitted for approval. growth in the global market.
 LG Electronics: Focus on consumer u-health  The Korean u-health market is expected to reach US$ 2.8B, in 2014, with the u-
products: wellness market, providing personal health mgt services, representing two-thirds of
- Touch Dr., a family physician service (commercialized the overall market.
in Dec. 2008).
- IPTV-based telemedicine and medical advice service.
 Engine for future growth: Mobile healthcare
- Establishment of a consortium to operate health care
centers (2011).  Various smartphone-based apps set to be released in the near future
 BIT Computer: the company most active in (ex. ‘Family Health Book,’ a health mgt app currently under development by SKT
developing u-health-related applications and systems: and Korea Medicare (a medical portal), is scheduled for release in April 2011).
- Teleconsultation system ‘Dreamcare+’
- Emergency monitoring system ‘Dreamcare M’ < The Size of the Korean U-health Market and Estimated Economic Effects
- Medical information system for small and medium-
size hospitals and care facilities ‘bitnixHIB.’ Market size Production inducement Employment inducement
- IPTV-based ‘Dreamcare TV’ \
 Needed Capabilities from companies 2010 2014 2010 2014 2010 2014
participating in u-health system and
service development: Overall 1.55 2.82 2.55 4.64 22,000 39,000
 The industry, although it has a strong market
u-Medical 0.27 0.55 0.45 0.91 4,200 7,300
potential, is still at its early stage in terms of
infrastructure and technology.
u-Home nursing 0.36 0.45 0.55 0.73 4,300 6,300
 Cooperative research between the industry and
academia on algorithms, signal processing and u-Wellness 0.91 1.81 1.55 3.00 13,500 25,400
hardware development is urgently needed.
* Source: Korea Health Industry Development Institute (2010) Unit: US$ B,36
jobs
Amended Mar. •Article 34 (Remote Medical Treatment) ① Medical persons (limited only to Provisions related to
30, 2002 medical doctors, dentists and oriental medical doctors engaged in medical service) telemedicine added for
may, notwithstanding Article 33 (1), give remote medical treatment (hereinafter the first time.
referred to as “remote medical treatment”) to furnish medical knowledge or Telemedicine included
technology to a medical person in a remote area by using information and as a legal form of
communication technology, such as computers or visual communication medical practice.
systems.

Article 34 (Remote Medical Treatment) ① Medical persons (limited only to medical Allowing patient
Legislative doctors, dentists and oriental medical doctors engaged in medical service; hereinafter consultation by medical
announcement “ medical doctors in remote locations”) may perform medical activities including professionals, as part of
on Jul. 29, 2009 telemedicine, to improve
consultation and issuance of prescriptions on patients located in places other than the
access to medical
medical institution for which they work, using information and communications technology
service and foster the
such as the computer and videoconferencing (hereinafter “telemedicine”).
growth of the health care
② Only follow-up patients deemed to run no medical risk by a medical doctor in a remote industry.
location may receive telemedicine services pursuant to Paragraph 1 above, if they meet Authorization of doctor-
at least one of the following descriptions in items below, whose further details are to-patient telemedicine
determined by the Presidential Decree: and the creation of legal
1. Patients residing in places, located far away from a medical institution, such as basis for the receipt of
telemedicine
Infrequent islands and remote rural areas;
prescriptions by third
hospital 2. Patients having limited access to medical care such as those residing in a parties on behalf of
visit patients.
correctional facility or ship crew members or passengers;
3.Mobility-impaired patients such as disabled or elderly patients having difficulty Broadening access to
visiting medical facilities; or medical service for
populations in remote
4.Patients in need of continuous monitoring and care, even outside an institutional areas and persons
Frequent medical care setting.
hospital otherwise having limited
visit access to medical care
and promoting the
growth of the health care
service industry.