Half of hospitals ignore 8 billion won EMS transfer system alerts
Despite the billions of won spent on the smart transfer system, hospitals only replied to just under half of the emergency requests made through it, prompting calls for an AI-backed overhaul.
A patient is transferred from an ambulance to the emergency medical center at a major hospital in Seoul on May 3, 2024.YONHAP
The government spent about 8 billion won ($5.45 million) over the past four years to introduce the "119 Smart EMS System" (translated) to help prevent emergency patients from being turned away by multiple hospitals, but the system has seen limited use, data showed.
Less than half of hospitals responded to requests sent through the 119 Smart EMS System last year, with a response rate of 47.96 percent, or 270,244 out of 563,521 requests, according to the National Fire Agency and the National Assembly Budget Office on Monday. The response rate in 2024 was similar at 49.43 percent, with 172,719 responses out of 349,414 requests.
In other words, hospitals failed to respond to requests half of the time, leaving paramedics without even a notification that a patient could not be accepted.
The 119 Smart EMS System allows paramedics to enter patient information at the scene and transmit it electronically to multiple hospitals at once. Hospitals are expected to respond in real time on whether they can accept the patient, which enables paramedics to quickly determine where to transport them.
Because of the low response rate, paramedics used the system in only 21.8 percent of emergency cases between January and March this year, or 91,592 out of 419,689 cases.
"When we send patient information from an emergency scene, hospitals are supposed to provide immediate response, but that's not how it works in reality," a paramedic in Gyeonggi said. "Many paramedics believe it's actually faster to call hospitals they know personally and plead for them to accept the patient than to rely on the system."
The main reason hospitals gave for their low response rates was a shortage of staff.
Among 470 hospital users of the patient transfer selection function, 29 percent of the respondents cited staffing shortages and 25 percent prioritizing other work as the main reasons for failing to respond, according to a September survey conducted by the National Fire Agency.
"The prolonged disruption of the medical system caused by the mass resignation of medical residents appears to have had a significant impact," said Lee Young-ju, a professor of fire safety at Kyungil University.
With the newly introduced system failing to deliver meaningful results, harm caused by patients being unable to find hospitals willing to accept them has continued.
Ambulances wait outside the emergency medical center at a major hospital in Seoul on Sept. 2, 2024.YONHAP
On May 1, a woman 29-weeks pregnant in Cheongju, North Chungcheong, could not find a hospital capable of performing an emergency delivery and was eventually transported to Dong-A University Hospital in Busan. Cheongju and Busan are nearly 300 kilometers (186 miles) apart.
Fire authorities contacted 10 hospitals nationwide before dispatching a firefighting helicopter. The woman was transferred about three hours and 30 minutes after the emergency call was received, but the newborn did not survive.
In another case, a 28-week-pregnant American woman staying at a hotel in Daegu went into premature labor after experiencing abdominal pain on Feb. 28.
She arrived at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital in Gyeonggi about four hours after the emergency call and underwent emergency surgery. One of the twins died, while the other suffered brain damage and received treatment. The two regions are approximately 255 kilometers apart.
"A system that could immediately match only the most urgent patients with appropriate hospitals might have made a difference," an experienced paramedic said.
Experts say the current system, which simply asks hospitals whether they can accept a patient, should be upgraded to provide more detailed information about the patient's condition and severity.
They argue that hospitals are more likely to respond quickly if they receive detailed and timely information about critically ill patients who require immediate treatment.
"Currently, the National Fire Agency neither collects nor analyzes data on system use by patient severity, making it impossible to assess whether the system is being effectively used for critically ill patients," Chae Jin, a professor of fire safety at Mokwon University, said by phone. "The process needs to be streamlined through a system that automatically compiles relevant statistics so meaningful improvements can be developed."
Health and Welfare Minister Jeong Eun-kyeong, left, speaks alongside President Lee Jae Myung during a meeting on regional, essential and public health care at the Blue House on July 22.NEWS1
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said it plans to enhance the 119 Smart EMS System by incorporating AI.
During a meeting on regional, essential and public health care chaired by President Lee Jae Myung on Wednesday, the ministry said it would work with the Ministry of Science and ICT to “introduce an AI-based system that recommends hospitals based on real-time information on available beds, medical staff and equipment.”
The health ministry also said it plans to standardize the "AI-based Regional Smart Emergency Patient Transfer System" (translated) introduced at Kyungpook National University Hospital and link it with the 119 Smart EMS System and the national emergency medical service information network.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
