How to Get a Second Opinion From a Korean Doctor Online

How to Get a Second Opinion From a Korean Doctor Online

You can ask a Korean specialist to review your diagnosis without flying to Korea. You pick a hospital on the Korea International Medical Association (KIMA) website, send one inquiry to the association, and KIMA passes your case to that hospital — the hospital then comes back to you with its assessment. This guide is written for patients who already have a diagnosis at home and want a Korean specialist's view before agreeing to surgery, chemotherapy or a long treatment plan, and for family members arranging it on a patient's behalf. KIMA is the non-profit association that connects international patients with registered Korean medical institutions.

Korea treated 2.01 million international patients in 2025, with visitors from China (30.8%), Japan (29.8%), Taiwan (9.2%) and the United States (8.6%) making up the largest groups (Ministry of Health and Welfare). A growing share of those journeys begin the same way yours can: with documents, not a plane ticket.

What a remote second opinion is — and what it is not

A remote second opinion is a specialist's written review of the records you already have: your diagnosis, imaging, pathology and treatment history. It is used to confirm or question a diagnosis, to compare treatment options, and to judge whether travelling to Korea would change anything for you.

It is not an emergency service, and it is not a substitute for being examined in person. A doctor working from documents cannot palpate, listen, or order a fresh test on the spot. Reviews are also only as good as the material you send — incomplete imaging or a missing pathology report is the most common reason a case comes back with "needs further tests" instead of a clear answer.

Who usually asks for one

• Patients told they need major surgery, and who want to know whether a less invasive option exists
• Cancer patients weighing a proposed protocol, or asking whether a treatment available in Korea applies to their tumour type
• People whose symptoms remain unexplained after several rounds of testing at home
• Families deciding whether a long trip is worth the cost and the disruption

What to prepare before you write

The more complete your file, the more specific the answer. Gather what you can:

English or Korean documents can be read directly. Records in other languages usually need a translation of at least the diagnosis summary and the pathology report — imaging files themselves are language-neutral.

How the request travels: five steps

1. Shortlist a hospital. Browse Find Hospitals and filter by specialty and region. If your case is orthopaedic or spinal, the Spine and joint listing is the place to start. You can also look through KIMA Doctors to see specialist profiles before you choose.
2. Send one inquiry to KIMA. Use the Contact us form and say which hospital you chose, what your diagnosis is, what you want reviewed, and which languages you can correspond in. You do not need to contact the hospital yourself.
3. KIMA passes the case to the hospital. The association forwards your inquiry to the institution you selected and confirms what that hospital needs from you — including which languages its international healthcare team supports.
4. The hospital replies to you. Depending on the department, this may be a written opinion, a request for further records, or an offer of a video consultation where that is available.
5. Decide what happens next. If the opinion points to treatment in Korea, the same channel is used to discuss scheduling, an estimate, and the visa route. If it confirms your local plan, you have your answer and nothing more is required.

What you get back

Most written opinions cover the same ground: whether the Korean specialist agrees with the diagnosis, which treatment options they consider reasonable, what additional tests they would want, and — if you travelled — roughly how long you would need to stay. Some hospitals also indicate whether the case is one they would accept.

What you will not get is a prescription or a binding commitment. Whether a case can be accepted, when, and at what cost is decided after consultation with the medical institution itself.

What it costs

There is no single published price for a second opinion in Korea, and no national tariff to quote. Care for international patients is not covered by Korea's National Health Insurance, so hospitals set these fees themselves and are required to post their non-covered charges under Article 45 of the Medical Service Act. Ask for the figure in writing before you commit.

The cost of a remote review typically breaks down into the hospital's review fee, translation of your records, converting or uploading imaging, and courier charges if physical slides are sent. Travel, accommodation and treatment itself are separate and come later, if at all. For scale: international patients spent an estimated 12.5 trillion won on medical tourism in Korea in 2025 (Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade analysis, reported here) — but that aggregate says nothing about what any individual case costs, which is exactly why an estimate in writing matters.

Languages and interpretation

Inquiries to KIMA are handled in Korean, English and Russian. Language support at each hospital varies, and the association checks what a given institution can offer when your inquiry comes in — so tell KIMA in your first message which language you need, rather than assuming.

What Korean rules allow right now

Remote care across borders is narrower in Korea than many patients expect: a document review and a written opinion are routine, while online diagnosis and prescribing have been tightly limited. That is changing. An amendment to the Act on Support for Overseas Expansion of Healthcare and Attraction of International Patients, promulgated in May 2026, will allow registered institutions to consult, diagnose and prescribe online for international patients — including first visits — once it takes effect a year after promulgation (reporting). Until then, treat a remote second opinion as a records review, and ask KIMA what a specific hospital can and cannot do online today.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to contact the hospital myself?
No. You select a hospital, send your inquiry to KIMA, and the association contacts the hospital for you. The hospital then replies to you directly.

How long does a reply take?
KIMA usually replies within 3–5 days, depending on the department and the nature of your question. Cases needing a specialist's review of imaging can take longer.

Do I need to translate everything?
Not everything. Imaging files are readable as they are. The diagnosis summary, pathology report and recent labs are the documents worth translating first.

Will a Korean doctor prescribe medication remotely?
Not as a rule. Prescribing and diagnosis online for international patients is restricted under current Korean law; ask KIMA what applies to your case and to the hospital you chose.

Does a second opinion commit me to treatment in Korea?
No. Many patients use the review to confirm that the plan they already have at home is sound, and go no further.

Start your second opinion request

Two steps:

1. Choose a hospital on Find Hospitals — filter by specialty and location.
2. Send your case to KIMA through Contact us, naming the hospital you chose.

KIMA usually replies within 3–5 days, depending on the department and the question. You can also reach the association at kimakorea@khidi.or.kr, +82-2-362-7608~9, or by Instagram DM to @kima_int. Inquiries are handled in Korean, English and Russian.

Whether your case can be reviewed or treated, the schedule and the cost are decided after consultation with the medical institution. Rules on remote medical services and visas can change; confirm current requirements before you act on this article.