Pediatric clinics are busiest on Mondays, and, to help avoid an “opening rush” on the first day of the week, hospitals must strengthen holiday treatment, a report said.

Rep. Shin Hyun-young of the Democratic Party of Korea has released the report based on her analysis of pediatric claims by day of the week based on data submitted by the Health Insurance Review Assessment Service. According to it, the average number of claims per medical institution in the first half of last year was 117.5 on Mondays.

Sunday came second with 99.7 claims, and Friday had 89.3 claims. The lowest average day of the week was Saturday, with 77.3 claims.

The patient congestion on Mondays appears to be getting worse. The average Monday billings of 117.5 was the highest in the past five years and nearly 2.1 times higher than the 56.6 in 2020 when healthcare utilization was low due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Sunday's average claim was the second highest at 99.7.

In contrast to more than 60,000 providers billing from Monday through Saturday, only 17,000 providers made their billing on Sunday, less than one-third of the weekdays.

Regarding pediatric claims by provider type for the first half of last year, neighborhood clinics had the highest average number of claims on Sundays at 118.3. The report said this is due to the relatively small number of institutions operating on Sundays, resulting in a higher average number of claims per institution.

The average number of pediatric claims for hospital-level and general hospital-level institutions was highest on Monday, with 182.3 and 65.6 claims, respectively.

On the other hand, tertiary general hospitals marked the highest volume on Wednesdays with 179.6 claims.

The analysis of emergency department billing statements, including adult and pediatric emergency departments, by day of the week for children under the age of 12, Sunday was the most frequent day of the week over the past five years with 866,595 visits, followed by Saturday with 655,110 visits.

In the first half of last year alone, there were 108,332 visits on Sundays, about 2.2 times as many as on Wednesdays (48,627), the day with the fewest visits.

"As emergency rooms fill in some of the weekend treatment void, the number of treatments seems higher than on weekdays," Rep. Shin said. "To alleviate the phenomenon of ‘opening rush’ at clinics on Mondays, various measures are needed, including strengthening holiday treatment at medical institutions."

If the number of weekend medical centers is expanded for parents struggling to find a hospital to treat their sick children on holidays, they will be able to use medical care without anxiety and worry, Shin emphasized.