Comparison of Relative Value on Physician Payment Schedule for reimbursement of health insurance between Korea and U.S.A.

한국과 미국의 기술료에 대한 상대가치 비교

This study compares the physician payment of national fee schedule for Korean Medical Insurance with that of the United States based on Resource Based Relative Value Scales (RBRVS) which Hsiao developed in 1988 for the Medicare reimbursement. Through the comparison of two fees schedules, this study is purposed to evaluate the appropriateness of relative values which assigned to each physician services of Korean fee schedule. A total of 264 physician services are selected for the comparison. The ratio of Korean schedule to RBRVS is selected as an index of appropriateness. It the score of index shows large variation among services, the relative value of Korean fee schedule is inappropriate with U.S. RBRVS which was developed recently. The Ratios of Korean schedule to RBRVS are widly variated ; the range of those is 8.1 to 379.3. In subgroups which are regrouped to controll systematic differences between two national fee schedules, these ratios are also variated. Services which are relatively less compensated are management/evaluation services, while services which are relatively more compensated are invasive and imaging services. By the way, the service classification of Korean fee schedule is unclear, specially in management/evalutaion services. Therefore, Korean Medical Insurance fee schedule should be modified to be more balanced and rational.