Results of HIRA’s preemptive response to COVID-19

Support preventive measures against COVID-19 by providing epidemiological surveys and an identification system for repeated mask purchases

Completed developing a management system for treatments including remdesivir, legdanbimab, etc.

In the ‘2020 sustainable management report’ published by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA), the institution cited its preemptive COVID-19 response as one of its achievements last year.

 

HIRA, which had organized a COVID-19 Countermeasure Promotion Committee in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, evaluated its performance to conclude that it had monitored 68,652 cases of international arrivals, sold 2.5 trillion won's worth of K-diagnostic agents as exports to 170 countries and supported 939.9 billion won in compensation to hospitals and small businesses impacted with COVID-19.

 

In particular, the 'identification system for repeated mask purchases’ played a key role in resolving the ‘mask shortage crisis’ that arose in the early COVID-19 period.

 

According to HIRA, the five-part mask supply system was implemented within 5 days of the mask shortage crisis.

 

During the early stages of its implementation, pharmacies and post offices were designated sellers of the public face masks.

 

HIRA ran an emergency response team 24/7, and disclosed inventory information regarding the public masks every five minutes.

 

HIRA then implemented the identification system for repeated mask purchases.

 

The authorities ordered pharmacies and mask sellers to log the mask sale information of each individual on the portal service for medical institutions, then compared and inspected the sales and cumulative purchasing information to prevent repeated purchases.

 

HIRA’s report states that the identification system for repeated mask purchases helped resolve the public's inconvenience of having to wait in line at pharmacies and other stores to purchase the masks.

 

In February of this year, upon request by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), HIRA had completed the development of a treatment (remdesivir, legdanbimab) management system.

 

In addition, HIRA had dispatched 216 epidemiological investigators to institutions and medical sites including the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, Central Disease Control Headquarters, screening clinics, and quarantine centers.

 

This year, HIRA plans to work with KDCA and continue to align its infectious disease response support system by automating the provision of epidemiological data.

 

To accommodate the government's request for the development of patient-specific treatment status and statistical information system for each COVID-19 confirmed case in each city and province, HIRA organized a temporary organization and started to provide the requested service to KDCA, cities and provinces, and quarantine institutions (health centers, medical institutions, etc.) from March last year.

 

Meanwhile, HIRA has provided 3.94 million cases of infectious disease information to medical institutions by advancing the Drug Utilization Review (DUR) service and International Traveler Information System (ITS).

 

Also, HIRA monitored the appearance of symptoms through a phone survey on all incoming international travelers (Korean and foreigners, 68,652 cases) to detect the inflow of COVID-19 cases in advance.

 

Also, HIRA self-acclaimed its achievements, stating that its efforts in allowing rapid entry of COVID-19 diagnostic tests into Korea's health insurance system and establishing a follow-up management system had contributed to the establishment of the world-class K-disease control and prevention system.

 

HIRA said, “We have conducted 203 times more tests than the number of patient occurrences, and 17 diagnostic reagent products from 15 Korean companies were listed, achieving 2.5.

 

trillion dollars in overseas exports."