• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.75-103
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• 2020

There is a growing voice that medical information should be shared because it can prepare for genetic diseases or cancer by analyzing and utilizing medical information in big data or artificial intelligence to develop medical technology and improve patient care. The utilization and protection of patients' personal information are the same as two sides of the same coin. Medical institutions or medical personnel should take extra caution in handling personal information with high environmental distinct characteristics and sensitivity, which is different from general information processors. In general, the patient's personal information is processed by medical personnel or medical institutions through the processes of collection, creation, and destruction. Still, the use of terms related to personal information in the Medical Service Act is jumbled, or the scope of application is unclear, so it relies on the interpretation of precedents. For the medical personnel or the founder of the medical institution, in the case of infringement of Article 24(4), it cannot be regarded that it means only medical treatment information among personal information, whether or not it should be treated the same as the personal information under Article 23, because the sensitive information of patients is recorded, saved, and stored in electronic medical records. Although the prohibition of information leakage under Article 19 of the Medical Service Act has a revision; 'secret' that was learned in business was revised to 'information', but only the name was changed, and the benefit and protection of the law is the same as the 'secret' of the criminal law, such that the patient's right to self-determination of personal information is not protected. The Privacy Law and the Local Health Act consider the benefit and protection of the law in 'information learned in business' as the right to self-determination of personal information and stipulate the same penalties for personal information infringement such as leakage, forgery, alteration, and damage. The privacy regulations of the Medical Service Act require that the terms be adjusted uniformly because the jumbled use of terms can confuse information subjects, information processors, and shows certain limitations on the protection of personal information because the contents or scope of the regulations of the Medical Service Law for special corporations and the Privacy Law may cause confusion in interpretation. The patient's personal information is sensitive and must be safely protected in its use and processing. Personal information must be processed in accordance with the protection principle of Privacy Law, and the rights such as privacy, freedom, personal rights, and the right to self-determination of personal information of patients or guardians, the information subject, must be guaranteed.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.581-588
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• 2017

This study was conducted to determine which factors would predict metabolic syndrome (MetS) perception and exercise by applying a machine learning classifier, or Extreme Gradient Boosting algorithm (XGBoost) from July 2014 to December 2015. Data were obtained from the Korean Community Health Survey (KCHS), representing different community-dwelling Korean adults 19 years and older, from 2009 to 2013. The dataset includes 370,430 adults. Outcomes were categorized as follows based on the perception of MetS and physical activity (PA): Stage 1 (no perception, no PA), Stage 2 (perception, no PA), and Stage 3 (perception, PA). Features common to all questionnaires for the last 5 years were selected for modeling. Overall, there were 161 features, categorical except for age and the visual analogue scale (EQ-VAS). We used the Extreme Boosting algorithm in R programming for a model to predict factors and achieved prediction accuracy in 0.735 submissions. The top 10 predictive factors in Stage 3 were: age, education level, attempt to control weight, EQ mobility, nutrition label checks, private health insurance, EQ-5D usual activities, anti-smoking advertising, EQ-VAS, education in health centers for diabetes, and dental care. In conclusion, the results showed that XGBoost can be used to identify factors influencing disease prevention and management using healthcare bigdata.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.53-69
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• 2021

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of treatment between Western medicine and Korean medicine on Allergic rhinitis patients using national population-based claim data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. Methods : The subjects of the study were 30,024 patients in the Korean medicine group and 30,024 in the Western medicine group who were diagnosed with Allergic rhinitis from September 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018. Propensity score analysis was used for matching age, sex, etc. at a ratio of 1:1. Cox regression and subgroup analysis were used to estimate the adjusted hazard ratio of recurrence, Asthma, and Atopic dermatitis in Korean medicine group and Western medicine group. In addition, the total treatment period, total treatment cost, and average cost per day of visit were compared and analyzed. Results : Compared to Korean medicine, Western medicine had a significantly higher risk of recurrence at 1.701 times, Asthma occurrence risk at 1.609 times and Atopic dermatitis occurrence risk at 1.098 times. Compared to Western medicine, the total treatment period of Korean medicine was 14.27 days longer, the total treatment cost was 53,591 won more, and the average cost per day was 7,539 won more. Conclusions : This study is a retrospective cohort study using the propensity score matching in Korea to compare the outcomes of Allergic rhinitis between Western medicine and Korean medicine. Further research is needed by considering patients characteristics, and linking with additional data.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2022

Background: This study aims to empirically compare and evaluate the current status of medical accessibility and health inequality between people with disabilities and without. We calculated the ACSC hospitalization rate, which is a medical accessibility index, for hypertension, a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease that accounts for more than 20% of deaths among people with disabilities using the 2016 National Health Insurance Big Data. Methods: The subjects of the study were a total of 601,520, including 64,018 people with disabilities and 537,501 people without. Logistic regression was performed to analyze the differences in hypertension hospitalization rates adjusted for demographic and sociological characteristics and disease characteristics using SAS 9.4 program. Results: Before adjusting for the characteristics, the hypertension hospitalization rate of people with disabilities was 1.55%, and the people without disabilities were 0.49%. After adjusting, it was found that people with disabilities were 2.11 times higher than people without disabilities, and it was statistically significant. Conclusion: The preventable hospitalization rate of people with disabilities is higher than that of people without, suggesting that the disabled have problems with access to medical care and health inequality. Therefore, the government's policy improvement is required to close the medical gap for the disabled.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.1-12
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• 2022

Objectives We analyzed visiting patterns to medical institutions and cost per visit according to the common cold patients aged 0-19 years. We analyzed Korean medical treatment for common cold. Methods Using the Pediatric Patient Sample data of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA-PPS), we analyzed the data on health insurance claims of approximately 1 million people from 2017 to 2019. The data included the number of patients who visited the hospital due to common cold for the first and second time, the ratio of second visits by type of medical institution, and the status of prescriptions in Korean medical institutions. Results The number of patients visiting healthcare providers for common cold was higher in Western medical institutions than in Korean medical institutions. However, the number of second visits was higher in Korean medical institutions. Acupuncture is the most commonly used medical treatment in Korean medical institutions for common cold. Herbal medicine for common cold was usually prescribed for 2-3 days for children and adolescents. Conclusions Although the average medical cost of Korean medical institutions was higher than that of Western medical institutions, the rate of second visits to Korean medical institutions was higher because of the demand for Korean medical treatment

• 한국노년학
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.883-893
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to analyze the characteristics of the elderly patients with depression who were admitted to the hospital with intentional self-harm. 3,280 patients were selected from KCDC database(2011-2015) using STATA 12.0. Analysis results show that gender(female), residence(micropolitan city), result of suicide(death), risk factors(financial problems, psychological problems, physical disease, conflicts with family, place(non-residence) method of suicide(poisoning) were statistically significant. The hospital should detect the elderly patient with depression when they admitted.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.359-367
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• 2020

The aim of this study was to identify the association between candidiasis and early childhood caries and to investigate whether the experience of candidiasis or oral candidiasis before age 1 can be considered as a risk factor for early childhood caries. The database used in this study was provided by Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. Medical records of children born from January 2010 to December 2012 were obtained, and those without dental records were excluded. Subjects were divided into several groups based on the experience of candidiasis or oral candidiasis before age 6: candidiasis group and non-candidiasis group; oral candidiasis group and non-oral candidiasis group. Another categorization was done according to the experience of candidiasis or oral candidiasis before age 1. The incidence rate of early childhood caries in each group were compared. The prevalence of dental caries in children who have been diagnosed with candidiasis or oral candidiasis before age 6 was significantly different from those who have not experienced candidiasis. Similarly, children who have suffered from candidiasis or oral candidiasis before age 1 had significantly different incidence of caries from the children without candidiasis experience.

• Journal of Appropriate Technology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.238-255
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• 2020

As COVID-19, which occurred at the end of 2019, has become a global pandemic, it has emerged as an unprecedented event that quickly destroys a nation's medical and healthcare system in both developed and developing countries. In the 21st century, most of the civil society that aimed for hyperconnected society is facing a new crisis that has not been experienced so far. Indeed, lack of personal protective equipment, isolation of clustered communities, disruption of medical systems necessary for diagnosis and treatment, and disruption of educational and economic activities due to social isolation are emerging. Since the COVID-19 has occurred, many of the difficulties that have occurred in the past six months indicate the basic infrastructure a society should have particularly in a pandemic. These include personal protective equipment (PPE), decontamination and quarantine tools essential for effective response, rapid and precise large-scale diagnosis, medical devices required for patient care, and identification and fast and wide on-line networks that can be used in social isolation. In this first part, we would like to introduce some representative examples of 1) personal protective equipment, 2) prevention of personal and community health, 3) social response through big data and networks within the framework of appropriate technology.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.167-176
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• 2017

Background: This study aimed to analyze the impact of community health care resources on the place of death of older adults with dementia compared to those with cancer in South Korea, using public administrative big data. Methods: Based on a literature review, we selected person- and community-level variables that can affect older people's decisions about where to die. Data on place-of-death and person-level attributes were obtained from the 2013 death certification micro data from Statistics Korea. Data on the population and economic and health care resources in the community where the older deceased resided were obtained from various open public administrative big data including databases on the local tax and resident population statistics, health care resources and infrastructure statistics, and long-term care (LTC) insurance statistics. Community-level data were linked to the death certificate micro data through the town (si-gun-gu) code of the residence of the deceased. Multi-level logistic regression models were used to simultaneously estimate the impacts of community as well as individual-level factors on the place of death. Results: In both the dementia (76.1%) and cancer (87.1%) decedent groups, most older people died in the hospital. Among the older deceased with dementia, hospital death was less likely to occur when the older person resided in a community with a higher supply of LTC facility beds, but hospital death was more likely to occur in communities with a higher supply of LTC hospital beds. Similarly, among the cancer group, the likelihood of a hospital death was significantly lower in communities with a higher supply of LTC facility beds, but was higher in communities with a higher supply of acute care hospital beds. As for individual-level factors, being female and having no spouse were associated with the likelihood of hospital death among older people with dementia. Conclusion: More than three in four older people with dementia die in the hospital, while home is reported to be the place of death preferred by Koreans. To decrease this gap, an increase in the supply of end-of-life (EOL) care at home and in community-based service settings is necessary. EOL care should also be incorporated as an essential part of LTC. Changes in the perception of EOL care by older people and their families are also critical in their decisions about the place of death, and should be supported by public education and other related non-medical, social approaches.

• The Journal of KAIRB
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.16-22
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• 2022

Purpose: The traditional ethical study only suggests a blurred insight on the research using medical big data, especially in this rapid-changing and demanding environment which is called "4th Industry Revolution." Current institutional/ethical issues in big data research need to approach with the thoughtful insight of past ethical study reflecting the understanding of present conditions of this study. This study aims to examine the ethical issues that are emerging in recent health care big data research. So, this study aims to survey the public perceptions on of health care big data as part of the process of public discourse and the acceptance of the utility and provision of big data research as a subject of health care information. In addition, the emerging ethical challenges and how to comply with ethical principles in accordance with principles of the Belmont report will be discussed. Methods: Survey was conducted from June 3th August to 6th September 2020. The online survey was conducted through voluntary participation through Internet users. A total of 319 people who completed the survey (±5.49%P [95% confidence level] were analyzed. Results: In the area of the public's perspective, the survey showed that the medical information is useful for new medical development, but it is also necessary to obtain consents from subjects in order to use that medical information for various research purposes. In addition, many people were more concerned about the possibility of re-identifying personal information in medical big data. Therefore, they mentioned the necessity of transparency and privacy protection in the use of medical information. Conclusion: Big data on medical care is a core resource for the development of medicine directly related to human life, and it is necessary to open up medical data in order to realize the public good. But the ethical principles should not be overlooked. The right to self-determination must be guaranteed by means of clear, diverse consent or withdrawal of subjects, and processed in a lawful, fair and transparent manner in the processing of personal information. In addition, scientific and ethical validity of medical big data research is indispensable. Such ethical healthcare data is the only key that will lead to innovation in the future.