• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.95-103
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• 2020

Purpose: This study was to examine whether a health care model that provides comprehensive medical services based on population groups to members of the medical cooperative is applicable as a policy alternative in terms of medical use and cost. Methods: Data were derived from National Health Insurance claim data in 2019. We compared the medical volume and expenses of patients who visited social cooperative-type medical clinics with other patients, control group who visited other clinics in a local area. Results: The average number of visit days was 25.3 days in social cooperative-type medical clinics, more than 24.2 days in the control group (p=.004). However, the average medical cost per visit was KRW 46 thousand in social cooperative-type medical clinics, which was significantly lower than KRW 51 thousand in the control group (p<.001), and the total medical cost was also KRW 16.1 billion in social cooperative-type medical clinics and KRW 16.9 billion in the control group. Conclusion: We identified that a population-based health care model might change patients' behaviors to health care services and decrease total medical cost. Further population based experiment is needed to develop alternative healthcare model.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.261-271
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• 2021

Background: In 2018, the government increased the fee for the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) image deciphering services of the external hospital to discourage the redundant MRI scan and to induce appropriate use of the MRI services. It is important to evaluate the effect of the policy to provide the basis for establishing other MRI-related policies. Methods: The healthcare data of the patients who had brain MRI scans were organized by episode and analyzed using the panel study in order to find out the effect of the MRI-related policy on the substitution effect and the medical expenses. Results: As a result of the increase in the fee of deciphering the MRI image, there has been an uplift in deciphering the MRI scan of the external hospital. It implies that more hospitals chose to use the MRI scan taken by other clinics or hospitals, rather than the MRI scan taken at their own facilities. Conclusion: The research results imply that a policy that facilitates the exchange of the medical image data between the hospitals is needed in order to establish an efficient management system of the healthcare resources. Such improvement is expected to reduce the social cost and contribute to the stability in the finance of national health insurance.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.55-70
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• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the influencing factors of the patient leaning phenomenon in tertiary hospitals. Based on the results of this study, we intended to find implications for improving the problems of the delivery system imbalance in tertiary hospitals caused by patient leaning phenomenon. Methodology/Approach: Qualitative studies were conducted, using focus group interviews and in-depth interviews. The focus group interviews were conducted for 12 users of tertiary hospitals by 2 groups. And in-depth interviews were conducted for 6 tertiary hospital managers. This was considered to be the most effective approach to gather diverse and in-depth information about the influencing factor of patient leaning phenomenon in tertiary hospitals. Findings: In focus group interviews, the reason for choosing tertiary hospitals was the reliability of the hospital(physician, reputation, etc.). And the effect of the policy to strengthen coverage of National Health Insurance and private medical insurance was relatively small. In other words, we found that the individual's desire to receive medical services suitable for one's health status and disease condition was the biggest factor, rather than the cost and policy factors. Practical Implications: We suggested that the appropriate medical care provision should be strengthened according to the role and function of medical institutions. In addition, the education system needs to be reorganized to activate the referral program, expand community medical capabilities, and foster quality primary medical care.

• Proceedings of the Korean Operations and Management Science Society Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.1667-1676
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• 2006

다른 산업과 달리 병원/의료 산업에서는 건강 보험료 심사 평가라는 독특한 검증 과정이 필수적으로 있게 된다. 건강 보험료 심사 평가는 병원의 수익 문제 뿐 아니라 적정한 진료행위를 하는 병원이라는 이미지와도 맞물려 매우 중요한 분야이며, 특히 대형 종합병원일수록 이 부분에 많은 심사관련 인력들을 투입하여, 병원의 수익과 명예를 위해서 업무를 수행하고 있다. 본 논문은 이러한 건강보험료 청구 심사 과정에서, 사전에 수많은 진료 청구 건 중 심사 평가에서 삭감이 될 수 있는 진료 청구 건을 데이터 마이닝을 통해서 발견하여, 사전의 대비를 철저히 하고자 하는 한 국내의 대형 종합병원의 사례를 소개하고자 한다. 데이터 마이닝을 적용함에 있어, 주요한 문제점 중의 하나는 바로 지도학습 기법을 적용하기에 곤란한 데이터 불균형 문제가 발생하는 것이다. 이런 불균형 문제를 해소하고, 비교 조건 중에 가장 효율적인 삭감 예상 진료 건 탐지 모형을 만들어 내기 위하여 데이터 불균형 문제의 기본 해법인 과, Sampling 오분류 비용의 다양하고 혼합적인 적용을 통하여, 적합한 조건을 가지는 의사결정 나무 모형을 도출하였다.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.173-179
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• 2021

Background: In Korea, the length of stay and medical expenses incurred by medical aid patients are increasing at a rate faster than the national health insurance. Therefore, there is a need to create a management strategy for each type of hospitalization to manage the length of stay of medical aid patients. Methods: The study used data from the 2019 National Health Insurance Claims. We analyzed the factors that affect the length of stay for 186,576 medical aid patients who were hospitalized for more than 31 days, with a focus on the type of hospitalization in long-term care hospitals. Results: The study found a significant correlation between gender, age, medical aid type, chronic disease ratio, long-term care hospital patient classification, and hospitalization type variables as factors that affect the length of hospital stay. The analysis of the differences in the length of stay for each type of hospitalization showed that the average length of stay is 291.4 days for type 1, 192.9 days for type 2, and 157.0 days for type 3, and that the difference is significant (p<0.0001). When type 3 was 0, type 1 significantly increased by 99.4 days, and type 2 by 36.6 days (p<0.0001). Conclusion: A model that can comprehensively view factors, such as provider factors and institutional factors, needs to be designed. In addition, to reduce long stays for medical aid patients, a mechanism to establish an early discharge plan should be prepared and concerns about underutilization should be simultaneously addressed.

• Journal of Service Research and Studies
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.31-44
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• 2021

The net function of the domestic medical insurance system is highly regarded, but due to the problem of incomplete coverage, the public wants to secure coverage through private medical insurance subscription. As a result, the subscription rate of private medical insurance has recently increased, and the billing rate has also increased. As the number of people seeking private medical insurance increased, workers at private medical insurance companies are experiencing increased job stress and side effects, especially for insurance reviewers who are in charge of paying insurance, such as communicating with customers who claimed insurance and contributing to the company's profit. In response, this study analyzed the effects of job stress on mental health of insurance reviewers and conducted a descriptive survey study to reduce job stress of insurance reviewers and promote mental health. The analysis shows that job stress for insurance reviewers has a significant impact on mental health (+). In detail, job stress has a significant impact on all four factors: social performance and self-confidence, depression, sleeping disturbance and anxiety, and general well-being and vitality. This study showed that job stress in insurance reviewers has a significant (+) impact on mental health. Job stress can cause side effects in organizational aspects, such as reducing enthusiasm for job performance and increasing turnover and resignation rates, but it can also worsen individual physical health and cause diseases such as depression and anxiety, causing mental health to be impoverished. Therefore, in order to prevent this, appropriate work stress prevention methods and countermeasures should be provided to help reduce work stress and improve mental health.

• KDI북한경제리뷰
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.19-26
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• 2019

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.38-47
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• 2024

Background: Korea's population of children and adolescents has decreased by 2.88 million over the past decade and is expected to decline further due to the unprecedented low birth rate. In the fee-for-service compensation system, the decline in the pediatric population relates directly to the profit decrease in the pediatric clinics. This study analyzed whether the worsening profits of pediatric clinics impacted their closure. Methods: We built annual data for pediatric and other department clinics (internal medicine, otolaryngology, and family medicine) using the status of medical institute and health insurance claims data from 2012 to 2022. Then, we analyzed whether institutional variables such as annual profit and regional variables (Herfindahl-Hirschman index, the number of clinics per 100,000, etc.) affected the closure of clinics. The methods used in this study are descriptive statistics and chi-square analysis. Odds ratios for each variable were estimated by generalized estimating equations (GEE). Results: The closure rate of pediatric clinics was 2.66%-7.04% in 2012-2022, which was consistently higher than those of internal medicine, otolaryngology, and family medicine clinics. The profit gap per institution between the pediatric and the other clinics grew from 126 million won in 2012 to 245 million won in 2019. In the GEE analysis, profit decrease compared to the previous year with lower profit was the main factor that increased the closure of pediatric and other department clinics. After adjusting profit-related variables, the decrease in the pediatric population itself did not relate to the closure of pediatric clinics. The number of pediatric clinics or monopolies also did not affect the closure of pediatric clinics. Conclusion: The worsening profit is the crucial factor for the closure of pediatric clinics, while the pediatric population is decreasing. For this reason, it is necessary to actively seek ways to maintain a stable treatment system for children and adolescents.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.73-82
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• 2021

Purpose: This study aims to examine the quality of tuberculosis (TB) care after the 1st to 3rd national quality assessment (QA) program for TB healthcare service in Korea was conducted. Methods: We analyzed Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA) claims data of new TB patients during the period of January to June from 2018-2020. The new TB patients were defined as TB patients reported to Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KCDA). The unit of analysis was the patient. Chi-square tests were used to analyze the differences in indicator value according to the types of medical facilities. The QA indicators of TB care were divided into 3 areas consisting of the following 7 quality indicators: 4 indicators of diagnosis test (the rate of acid-fast bacilli smear, the rate of acid-fast bacilli culture, the rate of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-polymerase chain reaction, drug susceptibility test), 1 compliance of treatment guideline, and 2 indicators of care management of TB patients (encounter rate, day of therapy). Results: The QA program for TB care was conducted among 8,246 patients from 534 facilities in 2020. The value of the 7 quality indicators was shown to increase as a result of the QA program. The indicators of the diagnostic test were all higher than 95%, with the exception of the drug susceptibility test which was 84.8%. Both indicators for care management of TB patients were 88.5%. Conclusion: The quality of TB care has been improving with the implementation of the QA program. In order to continue to improve the quality of TB care, it will be necessary to disclose the results of the QA program in medical facilities in the future.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.268-277
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• 2021

Background: Most antipsychotic drugs studies have been mainly conducted on side effects, randomized clinical trials, utilization rates, and trends. But there have been few studies on the influencing factors in elderly patients. The purpose of this study was to analyze the influencing factors on the outpatient prescription of antipsychotic drugs in the elderly patients. Methods: Active ingredients of antipsychotic drugs in Korea were selected according to the Korean Pharmaceutical Information Center (KPIC)'s classification. Data source was Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) claims data in 2020 and target patient group was the elderly patient group. We extracted patients who have been prescribed one or more antipsychotic drugs and visited only one medical institution. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square, t-test, negative binomial regression. Results: A number of outpatients were 245,197 and prescriptions were 1,379,092. Most characteristics of patients were 75-85 year's old, female, health insurance type, no disease (dementia, schizophrenia), atypical drugs, cci score (>2) and characteristics of medical institution were neurology in specialty, rural region, general hospitals. Results of regression showed that patient's characteristics and medical center characteristics had significant effect on the outpatient prescription of antipsychotic drugs in the elderly patients. Conclusion: This study suggests that national policy of antipsychotic drugs in the elderly patients, with the consideration of the patients' and medical institutions' characteristics, is needed.