The Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) is undertaking a sweeping reorganization, including the creation of a dedicated office to oversee regional, essential, and public medical care. The ministry is establishing an execution body to carry out core healthcare reform tasks of the Lee Jae-myung administration, while also deploying dedicated units for major issues such as medical artificial intelligence (AI), management of non-covered medical services, and National Pension fund operations.
The ministry said that a partial amendment to the organizational structure of the Ministry of Health and Welfare and its affiliated agencies was approved at a Cabinet meeting on the 14th. The amendment will take effect on the 21st after procedures including publication in the official gazette.
Through this reorganization, the ministry will create one office, one bureau, five divisions, and two teams, and add 29 positions. The biggest change is the establishment of the Regional, Essential and Public Medical Care Office, which will oversee regional, essential, and public medical care policies that had been scattered across various organizations.
Until now, regional, essential, and public medical care policies were handled separately by the Health Care Policy Bureau, the Essential Medical Care Support Bureau, and the Public Health Policy Bureau, drawing criticism that policy momentum was dispersed. Going forward, the Regional, Essential and Public Medical Care Office will oversee related policies with the Regional and Essential Medical Care Policy Bureau and the Public Medical Care Policy Bureau under its wing.
The ministry will also create four new divisions: the Regional Medical Care Policy Division, the Essential Medical Care Policy Division, the Regional Medical Workforce Development Division, and the National University Hospital Policy Division. These will take charge of the regional physician system, the operation of the national medical school, the development of national university hospitals, and support policies for essential medical care such as pediatrics, delivery, and critical care, aiming to accelerate efforts to close regional medical care gaps.
The ministry will also strengthen its medical resource management functions. The newly established Medical Resource Policy Bureau will comprehensively manage medical resources including medical workforce supply, hospital beds, special medical equipment such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and blood and organs.
Organizations for medical AI and non-covered service management will also be created. The existing Health and Medical Data Promotion Division will be expanded and reorganized into the Medical AI and Data Policy Division, which will take charge of the government's medical AI adoption policy. The Health Insurance Policy Bureau will establish a Non-Covered Service Management Team to oversee the non-covered service reporting system, standardization, and selective coverage. A Medical System Innovation Division, responsible for the structural transformation of tertiary general hospitals and the reform of the care delivery system, will operate in the form of an autonomous unit.
In the welfare sector, the ministry will newly establish a Fund Operations Management Division to respond to the expanding size of the National Pension fund. The existing National Pension Finance Division will be renamed the Fund Operations System Division and will handle fund operation systems and governance. The new organization will take charge of investment diversification, responsible investment, and the exercise of voting rights, supporting efforts to improve the long-term returns of the National Pension.
In light of a series of abuse cases at residential facilities for people with disabilities, the Disability Abuse Response Task Force (TF), which had operated as a temporary body, will be formally launched as the Disability Abuse Response Team.
"Through this reorganization, we have laid the foundation to systematically pursue the national tasks of the People's Sovereignty Government, such as strengthening regional, essential, and public medical care and improving National Pension returns," Health and Welfare Minister Jung Eun-kyeong said. "We will create outcomes that the public can feel."
