Health-data policy is not only about access to large datasets. Care also depends on whether information can follow a patient, whether different systems interpret it consistently, and whether the software recording it is safe and interoperable. From 2017 to 2020, Junghwan Park's medical-information portfolio addressed those linked layers through health-information exchange, terminology and classification standards, electronic medical-record certification, and early smart-hospital policy.
The patient-facing layer was the national health-information exchange. A consent service and record-transfer support system enabled participating providers to exchange clinical notes, medication and test records, CT, and MRI data electronically. The network began with 1,322 institutions in 2017 and expanded through additional hub hospitals and regional clinical communities, reducing reliance on paper and CDs while supporting continuity of care, medication safety, and fewer duplicate tests. Policy work combined technical standards with participation incentives and agreements among hub institutions.
The system layer was electronic medical-record certification. Public consultations in 2018 and 2019 refined functional, interoperability, and security requirements; an eight-institution pilot tested the proposed regime; and a formal national certification notice took effect in June 2020. The objective was not uniform software for its own sake, but dependable records that improve patient safety, support continuity, and can be exchanged and reused without losing meaning.
Standards made those systems intelligible to one another. The portfolio updated Korea's national health terminology, incorporated new domains, and hosted the 2018 annual meeting of the WHO Family of International Classifications. An expert advisory committee and public forums treated terminology, structure, patient control, privacy, and AI-readiness as shared policy questions rather than isolated technical projects.
By 2020, the agenda extended from digitizing records to redesigning hospital services. The Smart Hospital Leading Model program invited providers to test ICT-enabled approaches to infection control, remote intensive care, and resource management in response to lessons from COVID-19. The through-line across the four years was cumulative: standardize the information, certify the systems, connect providers with patient consent, and then use that reliable digital foundation to improve care.