South Korea: Teleradiology and MRI Second Opinion

South Korea has a distinct advantage of technology usage in Healthcare sciences including radiology but the penetration of teleradiology is slowly advancing. There seems to be a good local initiative by hospitals for MRI or CT second opinion but in general people in general, unlike USA, shy away from seeking opinion from Global Radiologist Panels at TeleradiologyHub.

Alternatively, a great enthusiasm amongst the radiologists in South Korea for teleradiology practice and in serving Second Opinion of MRI and CT Scans. TeleradiologyHub team spoke to Dr Tae Hoon Nam from Cheongdam Radiology Clinic, South Korea. Dr Ariunbold Gankhuyagav who is working as a Radiologist and Educational Executive Officer at Seoul hospital also interacted with the team. The team could mark an urge amongst fellow radiologists in South Korea to know TeleradiologyHub teleradiology and second opinion working model. 

 Teleradiology Model in South Korea

There is an overall shortage of doctors in Korea. With 2.1 doctors per population of 1,000, there are nearly 4000 radiologists registered with the Korean Society of Radiology while 600 residents. 
Looking at the statistics, there is a definite need for teleradiology services in South Korea. But on the ground, there are obvious hurdles in seeking teleradiology services by clients in South Korea. The main reason being the majority of radiology examinations are covered by the National Health Insurance Program. A typical cost reimbursement model provides little option for outsourcing.

Secondly, there are groups of doctors including oriental physicians who read USG or CT or MRI themselves and hence make radiologists redundant. The fee for ultrasound is not covered by the mandatory National Health Insurance system, therefore the fee is not regulated by the government, and the fee is relatively expensive compared with other imaging modalities. A very competitive turf battle is going on for ultrasound in Korea between radiologists and non-radiologists, and even with technologists. Thirdly, South Korea as a country is a fully employment conscious country. National policies are made keeping in mind full time employment, and that restricts outsourcing of teleradiology. 70% of radiologists work at General Hospitals or University Hospitals leaving only 13% for private radiology. In the last decade, teleradiology has been practiced by General hospitals to get subspecialty radiologists opinion. Some teleradiology services are also found in ultrasound.

Lastly, Radiologist forum show up growing concern as hospitals save money by outsourcing radiology departments and not hiring radiologists.

Radiology Second Opinion in South Korea

Like India, the second opinion radiology (MRI or CT Scan) market in South Korea is still under development. The talk with radiologist in Seoul was quite impressive in this regard. They feel that there is widespread opinion that more opinions would help the radiologist but much needed to be done. At the present only Hospitals are providing the Sub-speciality second opinion service. In a globalized and competitive world, the Korean radiologist need to figure out opportunities( on the platforms like TeleradiologyHub) with their skills. If not, then the Korean radiologists are not able to create competitive efforts like their counterparts in USA to reach excellence in radiology. The requests for second opinion are not widely seen on the online second opinion seeking platforms like TeleradiologyHub but they are slowly growing. However South Korean radiologists on TeleradiologyHub are sought after. The exchanges with the outside radiology world are rather accentuated by the Korean Society of Radiology (KSR) . To make the excellence in radiology, the society also formed 10 subspecialty societies in South Korea as follows:

• Korean Society of Neuroradiology and Head and Neck Radiology (www.ksnhnr.org)
• Korean Society of Thoracic Radiology (kstr.radiology.or.kr)
• Korean Society of Abdominal Radiology (ksar.radiology.or.kr)
• Korean Society of Pediatric Radiology (kspr.radiology.or.kr)
• Korean Society of Urogenital Radiology (ksur.radiology.or.kr)
• Korean Society of Interventional Radiology (intervention.or.kr)
• Korean Society of Breast Imaging (ksbi.radiology.or.kr)
• Korean Society of Cardiovascular Imaging (kosci.co.kr)
• Korean Society of Musculoskeletal Radiology (ksms.co.kr)
• Korean Society of Interventional Neuroradiology (www.ksin.or.kr). 

TeleradiologyHub.com 는 글로벌 멀티 패널 "MRI 또는 CT 스캔에 대한 두 번째 의견"의 선구자입니다. 이 플랫폼은 기술적으로 환자가 두 번째 검토를 위해 Diacom 파일을 알고 업로드하도록 교육합니다. 마찬가지로, 외딴 지역의 진단 시설과 병원이 하위 전문 방사선 전문의의 사례를보고하는 데 도움이됩니다. 마지막으로, Teleradiologyhub.com 에는 24 개국에 500 명 이상의 방사선 전문의가 있습니다.