There is a medical institution that is accelerating the expansion of global medical services based on an international collaborative care model that connects the entire process of overseas patients’ diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up care. It is OPEN Healthcare (OHC), a global healthcare platform company under Seegene Medical Foundation.

OPEN Healthcare has built a collaborative care system that links local tests in the United States, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, and other countries with treatment at medical institutions in Korea. In particular, it focuses on resolving issues faced by overseas patients such as duplicate testing, delays in treatment schedules, and discontinuity in follow-up care.

In recently released online content, a case was introduced in which a patient residing in the United States underwent preliminary tests locally and then received prompt treatment in Korea. The patient, who had been diagnosed with cataracts in the United States, visited Korea for treatment. By sharing the local U.S. test data among medical staff in advance before departure, the patient was able to proceed directly to consultation and surgery upon arrival in Korea without additional waiting.

Kang Shin-gu, director of Seoul Gang Eye Clinic, who performed the cataract surgery on this patient, said, “If there had been no preliminary testing, the patient would have had to undergo blood tests again after arriving in Korea and then wait for the results,” adding, “If there had been issues with blood sugar control or inflammation levels, or abnormalities in parameters related to bleeding, the surgery schedule could have been postponed, and additional internal medicine treatment might have been required first, which could have prevented the surgery from taking place in a timely manner.”

Generally, overseas patients must repeat testing after arriving in Korea, which often delays treatment schedules. However, OPEN Healthcare’s collaborative care system significantly improves treatment efficiency by enabling prior consultation on the feasibility of surgery and treatment plans based on local test results. This has been made possible by establishing a collaborative framework based on medical data. OPEN Healthcare defines this as the “PPCC (Pre-Post Care Center)” model, connecting preliminary tests conducted in the patient’s country of residence, treatment in Korea, and post-return management into a single medical flow.

In practice, Korea Medical Center Almaty (KMCA) in Almaty, Kazakhstan, is a representative example of this collaborative care system in action. Min Hee-seok, chief director of KMCA, said in a video interview with this newspaper, “KMCA conducts pre-visit examinations and consultations before the patient’s trip to Korea and shares medical data with Korean medical staff to support continuous follow-up management even after treatment,” adding, “This kind of international collaborative care system can be considered the first attempt of its kind in Korea.”

Kim Bong-su, head of the Clinical and Check-up Business Team at OPEN Healthcare, said, “Whereas traditional medical tourism has been treatment-centered, the international collaborative care model is differentiated as a sustainable medical system that extends from diagnosis to treatment and follow-up care,” explaining, “The key is to ensure that patients are medically prepared even before they visit Korea.” He added, “We are currently operating collaborative structures in various countries including the United States, Kazakhstan, and Vietnam, and plan to expand to more countries in the future to enhance global access to medical services.”

OPEN Healthcare plans to take the lead in the global expansion of Korean medical services based on cooperation with major domestic medical institutions. It is also continuously advancing its collaborative care network so that overseas patients can receive prompt and systematic medical services.

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