Hallym University Chuncheon Sacred Heart Hospital will strengthen its clinical capabilities in essential medical fields with high demand in Gangwon State, including neurological diseases and critical emergency care. The hospital will overhaul its collaborative care system so that patients move quickly from diagnosis to surgery and intensive care, and will expand a referral network connecting local medical institutions with specialty hospitals nationwide.
Cho Jae-ho, the new hospital director, outlined the development strategy at an inaugural press briefing held recently, the hospital said on the 16th. "The role of a university hospital is not to expand the scale of every field, but to properly take responsibility for the care that the local community needs," Cho said.
The hospital will first concentrate staff and medical resources on stroke and brain hemorrhage, fractures and trauma, and joint and musculoskeletal diseases, reflecting the large elderly population in Gangwon State. It will strengthen links between relevant departments and specialized centers to ensure that emergency patients receive definitive treatment, including hospitalization, procedures and surgery, in a timely manner after diagnosis.
Since being designated a regional emergency medical center in 2016, the hospital has handled critical emergency care for the Yeongseo area of Gangwon State. It treated an average of about 28,400 emergency patients a year over the past three years. Of the 19,387 patients transported by 119 emergency services between 2023 and 2025, 6,992 were admitted for inpatient treatment.
The hospital will also expand its system for referring and returning patients between medical institutions. Treatment that can be provided locally will be handled by local institutions, while highly complex and rare diseases will be routed to specialty hospitals nationwide. Once specialized treatment is complete, care continues at local hospitals and clinics or at rehabilitation and recovery facilities. "What matters is dividing and connecting roles based on the functions and expertise each institution can actually deliver," Cho said.
In research, the hospital will focus on applying artificial intelligence and digital technology in clinical settings. Selected last year as the first medical institution in Gangwon State to win first-round certification as a research-driven hospital from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, it has developed an AI model for predicting preterm birth, a diagnostic support device for gastroscopy and a remote collaborative care platform for brain hemorrhage. The hospital plans to apply these technologies in actual treatment and use them for interinstitutional collaboration and patient transfers and returns.
"We will solve problems in clinical practice through research, and link research results back to patient treatment," Cho said. "We will take responsibility for the critical and essential care the region needs, while strengthening ties with specialized medical institutions nationwide."