Purpose: This study aims to figure out problems in Korea’s physical therapy, how to improve it, and the need for it by examining the nation’s physical therapy charges.
Methods: This study was performed based on materials from the National Health Insurance Corporation, Korean academic theses, and domestic medical charge system.
Results: The number of patients with physical therapy stood at around 17,764,428 in 2008, and then has gradually rose to 3 out of 100,000 citizens. The National Health Insurance Charge System based on relative values, which has been applied since 2001, is not desirable in that it is increasing patients’ financial burden. Also, in deciding the amount of work carried out by physical therapists, their amount of input time, efforts, labor, and stress from their patients were not considered and the false relative value system has made patients pay more.
Conclusion: Korean medical insurance charges and the overall system should be improved, so that physical therapists can perform specialized services of global physical therapy and service receiving patients do not incur losses.
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