Korea medical certificate fee caps
Medical certificate fee caps set upper amounts for listed documents, while hospitals set their fees within that range and record-copy rates change after the first five pages.
The document’s name, contents and charging unit determine which limit to read. A new diagnosis certificate, a copy of an existing certificate and a copied medical-record page have separate criteria.
A cap calculation covers the selected document charges. Consultation, tests, translation and the receiving organization’s document requirements need their own checks.
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Who sets medical certificate fee caps and the hospital’s posted fee?
The Ministry sets the caps; each hospital sets its fee between zero and the applicable cap.
Article 45-3 of the Medical Service Act requires the Minister of Health and Welfare to publish standards for certificate-fee items and amounts. The notice applies to medical institutions charging the covered certificate fees. Article 5 states how an institution must set and collect those charges within the listed range.
A hospital may choose a fee below the upper amount, including zero. The printed upper amount therefore cannot tell you what that particular hospital will charge. Compare the hospital’s posted item and fee with the document you intend to request, keeping the certificate charge separate from other entries on the bill.
The notice also requires the covered fees to be posted where patients and carers can see them, with a separate website display for institutions operating a website. A name on a price list is useful only when its document contents and unit match the notice’s criteria. Similar wording alone does not establish that match.
How do medical certificate fee caps distinguish new documents and copies?
New certificates, existing certificate copies and copied record pages have separate criteria.
The general diagnosis-certificate item refers to a certificate prepared by a doctor under the stated form after considering examination or test findings. The English general diagnosis-certificate item has its own entry under that form. Read the applicable form and contents together with the amount rather than applying the entry to any document written by a doctor.
Medical-record copies concern records copied under Article 15(1) of the Enforcement Rule. The fee for a page in that record is distinct from a copy of a previously issued certificate. The latter item also covers extra identical certificates issued at the same time beyond the first original, which matters when a receiving organization asks for more than one copy.
The request procedure also depends on this distinction. The Ministry’s records guidance separates existing-record copies from first issuance of a diagnosis certificate or doctor’s opinion. The family or designated-agent documents for a record-copy request do not by themselves settle whether a new certificate can be written or handed over under Article 17.
| Notice item | Unit | Upper amount (KRW) | Criteria to match |
|---|---|---|---|
| General diagnosis certificate | One document | 20,000 | The diagnosis-certificate form specified in the notice |
| English general diagnosis certificate | One document | 20,000 | A general diagnosis certificate written in English under the specified form |
| Medical-record copies, pages 1 to 5 | Each page | 1,000 | The first five copied pages of covered records |
| Medical-record copies, page 6 onward | Each additional page | 100 | Only pages from the sixth onward use this rate |
| Imaging-record copy on CD | Each CD | 10,000 | Images copied using a CD; do not extend this entry to USB |
| Existing certificate copy | Each copy | 1,000 | Reissue of an existing certificate or an extra identical copy beyond the first |
How do medical certificate fee caps apply after five copied pages?
Keep the first five pages at their rate; thirty record pages have a cap of KRW 7,500.
The two rows describe successive portions of the same page count. Once a request reaches a sixth page, the first five pages retain their first-tier rate. The lower rate then applies to the remaining pages. Applying the additional-page rate to every page would omit the first portion of the calculation.
Thirty copied pages consist of five pages in the first tier and twenty-five additional pages. Five times KRW 1,000 plus twenty-five times KRW 100 gives KRW 7,500. An eight-page request similarly has three additional pages after the first five, for a total cap of KRW 5,300. These totals concern the copied pages counted in the request.
For a different combination, one general diagnosis certificate and one imaging CD have a combined cap of KRW 30,000 under their respective entries. The copied-page rule is not applied to the disc, and a certificate is not counted as a medical-record page. Examination charges or other separately applicable costs remain outside that sum.
| Request | Calculation | Combined cap (KRW) |
|---|---|---|
| Five record pages | 5 × 1,000 | 5,000 |
| Six record pages | 5 × 1,000 + 1 × 100 | 5,100 |
| Thirty record pages | 5 × 1,000 + 25 × 100 | 7,500 |
| One general diagnosis certificate and one imaging CD | 20,000 + 10,000 | 30,000 |
| One original general diagnosis certificate and one extra identical copy issued together | 20,000 + 1,000 | 21,000 |
Do medical certificate fee caps include examinations and translation?
Most document fees exclude consultation and tests; employment health certificates have an exception.
Article 2 of the notice defines the certificate fee separately from consultation and test charges. A new diagnosis certificate may depend on a doctor’s examination or consideration of findings, but its listed document fee does not become a cap on the entire medical visit. Read separately charged services by their own names on the bill.
The employment health-examination certificate is an express exception. Its criteria include measurements, general blood tests, urine tests and a chest radiograph, while excluding such items as drug testing and tests for particular diseases. That specified package should not be carried over to an ordinary diagnosis certificate or a copied medical record.
Translation and notarization are not separate capped items in the reviewed annex. An English general diagnosis certificate is a named entry, but an English rendering of a whole record or an independently prepared opinion needs its own scope and fee check. The requested language, source document and service description help identify what the quoted charge actually covers.
How do medical certificate fee caps cover English and unlisted documents?
English general certificates are listed; USB and other documents need their own scope check.
The English general diagnosis-certificate cap is KRW 20,000 for the document meeting the annex’s criteria. That entry confirms a fee category. It does not establish a general right to have every clinical note, operation record or test report translated into English, nor does it specify a uniform translation or collection timetable.
Article 5(3) permits institutions to set fees for certificates outside the annex with separate names and forms or contents. Identify the requested document’s actual contents before treating it as unlisted. A change in the wording used by a hospital is not enough on its own to determine whether the listed criteria apply.
An imaging CD, an imaging DVD and a USB copy are different media. The reviewed cap annex does not give USB its own upper amount, even though HIRA’s published-fee classification includes USB. A requester needing electronic images can ask which medium the hospital will supply, what is included and whether the receiving organization accepts that medium.
How do regional reported prices differ from medical certificate fee caps?
HIRA summarizes reported fees by type and region; the notice sets upper amounts.
A maximum in a reported-fee table and an upper amount in the notice answer different questions. HIRA’s table describes the submitted amounts included in its statistics. It does not replace the notice’s document criteria or establish that a patient paid that amount for the same bundle of documents and other services.
The published regional tables and institution-type tables are separate breakdowns. They cannot identify the fee for a particular institution or a joint region-and-type group. A regional median should not be combined with a type-specific minimum or maximum to create another group’s price range. In the statistical notes, numeric zero denotes a zero-won fee and a dash denotes no figure.
The 2026 statistical publication carries Korea Open Government License Type 4 conditions covering attribution, non-commercial use and no modification. Consult the official tables and their notes in the original publication. Published amounts above a listed cap alone do not establish a particular institution’s unlawful charge, the cause of a discrepancy or an error in the reported unit.
Which original sources explain medical certificate fee caps and their scope?
Read the notice and annex with Article 45-3 and HIRA’s charging-unit guidance.
The reviewed current notice is Ministry of Health and Welfare Notice No. 2021-34, issued and effective on 5 February 2021, checked on 29 October 2026. Article 4 links to the annex, while Article 5 describes setting fees, posting them and handling documents outside the annex. The annex must be read with those provisions.
For charging units, HIRA’s April 2026 questions and answers state one document for certificates, one page for medical-record copies and one disc or sheet for imaging film, CD or DVD. The annex itself specifies the two copied-page tiers. This combination explains why a page total and a disc total follow different calculations even when requested together.
The receiving organization can clarify the document name, language, original-or-copy requirement and number of copies it needs. A fee entry does not decide an insurer’s claim requirements or approval, the authority of a person collecting records, or how long a new document will take. Those questions keep their own request procedures and institutional checks.
Original scope, dates and limits remain attached to each source. Missing evidence is not replaced by assumptions.
What basis are these numbers on?
| Snapshot | Source | Reference date | Retrieved | Site calculation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current Ministry certificate-fee cap notice | Ministry of Health and Welfare / National Law Information Center, Ministry of Health and Welfare / National Law Information Center, Ministry of Health and Welfare / National Law Information Center, Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service | February 5, 2021 | October 29, 2026 | Copied record pages: the first five at KRW 1,000 each, then KRW 100 for each later page. Other items use their stated document or medium unit. |
What else do people ask about medical certificate fee caps?
Are medical certificate fee caps the price at every Korean hospital?
Each institution sets its fee between zero and the applicable cap under the notice. Check its posted item, document contents and charging unit. The upper amount alone does not establish that hospital’s charge or the total cost of a medical visit.
What is the cap for thirty pages of medical records?
The first five pages use KRW 1,000 per page and the remaining twenty-five use KRW 100 per page. The combined cap is KRW 7,500. Applying the additional-page rate to all thirty pages would omit the first tier.
Does an English general diagnosis certificate have its own listed cap?
Yes. The cap is KRW 20,000 for an English general diagnosis certificate meeting the specified form and criteria. This entry does not guarantee English translation of all medical records or a uniform preparation time.
Can the imaging CD cap be applied to a USB copy?
The imaging CD entry has a cap of KRW 10,000 per disc. USB is a separate medium and has no independent cap in the reviewed annex. Ask which medium and contents the quoted charge covers rather than substituting the CD amount.
Why can an extra identical certificate cost differently from record pages?
The notice treats an extra identical certificate issued alongside the first original as a certificate copy. That category has a cap of KRW 1,000 per copy. Medical-record pages instead follow the first-five-page and additional-page rates.
Where do these numbers come from?
- Standards for medical-institution certificate-fee items and amounts Notice 2021-34, issued and effective 5 February 2021. Read the full operative notice and annex; original checked 29 October 2026.
- Annex: certificate-fee items, criteria and upper amounts All 30 items, criteria and upper amounts were checked in the original HWP and the Law Center’s two annex images. The annex has no USB cap.
- Medical Service Act, Article 45-3: certificate-fee standards Original provision checked 29 October 2026. The stated conditions, exceptions and related current forms apply.
- April 2026 questions and answers on published non-covered charges April 2026 HIRA questions and answers, officially distributed by the Korean Hospital Association. Read printed pages 25–26 (PDF pages 27–28) for certificate and copy units.
- Medical Service Act, Article 17: diagnosis certificates Original provision checked 29 October 2026. The stated conditions, exceptions and related current forms apply.
- 2022 handbook on medical institutions and medical corporations Official distribution of the Ministry handbook. Read printed pages 235–238, 242 and 245. The 2022 guidance is read alongside current legislation and forms.
- 2026 statistics on non-covered charges and certificate fees Published 29 September 2026. KOGL Type 4: attribution, non-commercial use and no modification. Price tables are not reproduced. Regions and institution types are separate aggregates; there are no institution rows or joint region-by-type figures.