We have been having an on going discussion about the Korean health care system and now comes news that the US plans to hire Korean civilians to help USFK servicemembers to navigate their health care system:

Patients using off-base hospitals in South Korea will soon receive help from newly hired Tricare liaisons and nurse case managers, officials say.

The bilingual liaisons will ride with patients to South Korean hospitals and guide them through administrative details, while the case managers will check on patients to ensure they are being treated in accordance with U.S. expectations of medical care.

“They’ll serve as the conduit between the Korean hospital and the patient, and essentially be there to help navigate the health care system,” said Haleh Rollerson, Tricare health care chief for the 65th Medical Brigade.

The brigade is hiring five liaisons and five case managers and hopes to have them working with patients within the next several days, Rollerson said. One of each will work out  [Stars & Stripes]

I thought this was already being done because the few times I had been to St. Mary’s Hospital in Uijongbu they had people that spoke English to help you out there.  I guess that was just something they were doing internally at the hospital to service the few GI’s that come through there.