Severance Hospital, First in Korea to Be Named Gold Winner by IHF

Severance Hospital became the first Korean hospital to be named the Gold Winner at the 45th World Hospital Congress held by the International Hospital Federation (IHF) with the participation of around 400 hospitals from 35 countries. 

The Gold Winner is selected based on an evaluation of the medical service quality, patient experience, clinical results, degree of health equity attainment, cost effectiveness, employee welfare, capabilities to achieve and maintain continuous growth, and data clarity. Severance Hospital, the sole medical institution in Korea to be nominated for the award, competed against the world’s leading hospitals such as Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi and Al Qasimi Hospital in the UAE, Apollo Hospital in India, and Tan Tock Seng Hospital in Singapore. 

The IHF ranked Severance Hospital as the best hospital to achieve sustainable growth and shape the landscape of medicine by pioneering healthcare culture. The hospital received particularly high scores in the areas of patient safety and satisfaction for improving its medical services through the organization dedicated to enhancing medical quality (Medical Care Evaluation Committee), established for the first time in Korea in 1981, and becoming Korea’s first to be accredited by the Joint Commission International five consecutive times. It also launched the Patient Experience Team to better manage patient satisfaction, ranking No. 1 in the National Customer Satisfaction Index (NCSI) for 11 consecutive years, and expanding its digital telemedicine services.

Other practices that were judged exceptional in the evaluation were the introduction and implementation of new health technologies, such as the adoption of heavy ion therapy equipment and 30,000 cases of robot-assisted surgery, excellent capabilities to deal with COVID-19, improvement of operational efficiency with the launch of short-term wards, and execution of talent-oriented management, such as HR conferences.

Dr. Ha Jong-won, General Director of Severance Hospital, said, “We have been able to boost patient satisfaction by making an effort to treat patients with new and cutting-edge health technologies and creating a patient-centered hospital culture. We will dedicate ourselves to introducing and researching state-of-the-art health technologies for treatment of intractable diseases and robotic surgery so as to create an environment in which more patients can most effectively heal.” 

General Director Ha added, “We will continue to listen to the voices of the members of our organization and strive to become a people-centric hospital and a national hospital that is beloved by all.”

Since 2015, the IHF has comprehensively evaluated the competencies, visions, strategies, achievements, and prior awards of medical institutions to select and recognize exemplary institutions and individuals in each category. In the hospitals sector, the Dr. Kwang-Tae Kim Grand Hospital awards are bestowed each year to Gold, Silver, and Honorary winners.