MRI 외부병원 판독 수가 인상의 효과 분석: 뇌 관련 자기공명영상을 중심으로

Abstract

Background: In 2018, the government increased the fee for the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) image deciphering services of theexternal hospital to discourage the redundant MRI scan and to induce appropriate use of the MRI services. It is important to evaluatethe effect of the policy to provide the basis for establishing other MRI-related policies. Methods: The healthcare data of the patients who had brain MRI scans were organized by episode and analyzed using the panel studyin order to find out the effect of the MRI-related policy on the substitution effect and the medical expenses. Results: As a result of the increase in the fee of deciphering the MRI image, there has been an uplift in deciphering the MRI scan ofthe external hospital. It implies that more hospitals chose to use the MRI scan taken by other clinics or hospitals, rather than the MRIscan taken at their own facilities. Conclusion: The research results imply that a policy that facilitates the exchange of the medical image data between the hospitalsis needed in order to establish an efficient management system of the healthcare resources. Such improvement is expected to reducethe social cost and contribute to the stability in the finance of national health insurance.