The Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA), which successfully exported its healthcare system to Bahrain, said its drug utilization review (DUR) system is drawing attention from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Latin America.

In March 2017, the HIRA signed an agreement with Bahrain to help establish four healthcare-related systems including DUR and the National Health Insurance Information System (NHIIS), under the “Bahrain National Social Health Insurance Program (SEHATI)-ICT Project.” Building the systems alone will cost around $15 million (17 billion won).

Lee Kwang-hyung, director of the international cooperation department at the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA), speaks during a workshop for healthcare reporters in Hongcheon, Gangwon Province, on Friday.

Lee Kwang-hyung, director of the international cooperation department at HIRA, said about 70 percent of Bahrain’s project was complete, at a workshop for healthcare reporters in Hongcheon, Gangwon Province, on Friday.

The project started in June last year and is scheduled to end in January 2020. The DUR system was nearly done, the NHIIS was 64 percent complete, and the Smart Utilization of NEMR (National Electronic Medical Repository) System (SUN), 52.4

In addition to the cooperation with Bahrain, the Korean government provided consultation services for health insurance expense management in five countries this year. They are India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Cambodia. The move is part of the government’s push to support the “New Southern Policy,” which is to boost relations with Southeast Asia and ASEAN.

In June last year, HIRA participated in the “Korea-Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Cooperation Seminar” at the IDB’s headquarters in Washington D.C. to promote its healthcare system based on ICT and prepared for entry into Latin

“Bahrain is to spend $15 million for the SEHATI-ICT project, and we will help them maintain the systems for the next five years. So, there will be a continuous creation of expenses,” Lee said.

Latin American nations also showed a significant interest in HIRA’s healthcare systems. “They have shown a lot of interest in Korea’s DUR system, especially since the recall of valsartan hypertension drugs,” he said. “We’re focusing on promoting the DUR system.”

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