# Does a higher price mean better care?

> The relationship between price and results cannot be judged from Korea’s non-covered price data.

Prices reflect costs, equipment, region and each institution’s own decisions, none of which the disclosure measures as outcomes.

Written by the Korea Non-covered Medical Price Statistics editorial team on October 21, 2026. Canonical address: https://kmedprice.org/articles/higher-price-better-care.

## What does the price disclosure measure?

Only the amount an institution charges for an item.

## What does it not measure?

Outcomes, safety, waiting time or satisfaction.

## What drives price differences?

Hospital type, region, equipment and materials, and the number of sessions.

## How should a patient use the range?

To ask informed questions about what a quoted price includes.

## Where can quality information be found?

HIRA publishes separate quality assessments for some areas of care.

## What should you read next?

- [Why do we show price ranges, not hospital names?](https://kmedprice.org/articles/why-ranges-not-names)
- [Is the median or the minimum the better reference?](https://kmedprice.org/articles/median-or-minimum)
- [Non-covered prices by hospital type](https://kmedprice.org/statistics/by-hospital-type)
- [Non-covered price explorer](https://kmedprice.org/tools/price-explorer)

## Where do these numbers come from?

- [Non-covered medical fee disclosure (by item and institution)](https://www.hira.or.kr/npay/index.do) - Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA)
- [Standards for reporting and disclosure of non-covered medical fees (notice)](https://www.law.go.kr/행정규칙/비급여진료비용등의보고및공개에관한기준) - Ministry of Health and Welfare (Korea Law Information Center)