Korea Ministry of Health and Welfare launched legislation for reimbursement for Nutrition Support Team (NST) activities from August 1st, 2014, which can be applied as a flat rate fee per day once a week. The indicated patients are those with hypoalbuminemia, on parenteral nutrition or enteral nutrition, critically ill patients in intensive care unit’s, and any patient on suspicion of malnutrition by the physician in charge. NST should be comprised of a professional physician, an educated nurse, an educated pharmacist, and a professional and experienced dietitian. The maximum number of patients that can be treated by one NST is 30 per day. Such a reimbursement system has resulted in some complex problems with NSTs. The low price does not provide adequate reward for the team’s workload because the output of NST belongs to the department in charge and there is no ensured incentive. The Department of Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service cannot detect the quality problem of NST, non-compliance of physicians in charge. There are no stratified codes according to severity of disease and no difference between the first visit and the repeated visit. Every NST should be certified with accreditation and should participate in a qualified education program. Korea Health Insurance does not cover the fees for feeding tubes, formulas, and pumps. Evidence that NST activities can reduce medical cost of hospital-admitted in-patients is needed. Cost-effectiveness can be achieved by quality improvement of NST.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by  

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