Over half of Korea's outpatient visits last under 5 minutes: study

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Over half of outpatients in South Korea spent under five minutes with their doctor during medical appointments last year, a study showed Wednesday.

The study, commissioned by the Health Ministry and conducted by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, gathered responses from 14,910 individuals between July 24 and Sept. 22 last year. Its findings show that 55 percent of respondents reported spending less than five minutes with their doctor, with 17.6 percent saying consultations lasted between one and three minutes each.

On average, outpatients spent 8 minutes with doctors and waited 18 minutes before being called in.

Despite such brief consultations, patient satisfaction generally remained high. Approximately 76.7 percent of respondents expressed trust in Korea's health care system, while 75.8 percent reported satisfaction with the quality of service provided.

Korea's state universal health care system, known as the National Health Insurance Service, uses a fee-for-service payment model. Under this system, prices for individual medical services are set by a government-administered board rather than by market forces.

The operator of the NHIS reimburses doctors accordingly for each service they provide. Patients typically pay only 20-30 percent, making doctor's visits affordable and accessible.

Meanwhile, doctors here have a greater incentive to see as many patients as possible because they are paid based on the quantity of services provided.

The survey also provided data on hospital admissions, with 48.1 percent of inpatients responding they were admitted on the same day without a prior appointment. The average hospital stay lasted 7.5 days.

These figures do not account for the impact of this year's nationwide doctors' strike on patient waiting times for visits and admissions, however.

By Moon Ki-hoon(moonkihoon@heraldcorp.com)