• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.225-231
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• 2021

Unmet healthcare is an important indicator to measure accessibility of healthcare services. To examine the latest status of unmet healthcare needs in South Korea, the four different data which is composed of nationally representative sample of South Korean population were used; the Korea Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNAHANES, 2007-2019), the Community Health Survey (CHS, 2008-2019), the Korea Health Panel Survey (KHP, 2011-2017), and the Korean Welfare Panel Study (KOWEPS, 2006-2019). The proportion of individuals reporting unmet healthcare needs were 5.8% (KNHANES), 5.3% (CHS), and 11.6% (KHP). Annual percentage change (APC) which identifies trend for the follow-up period was -9.5%, -8.0%, and -6.5%, respectively. The proportion of individuals reporting unmet healthcare needs due to cost were 1.1% (KNAHANES), 0.7% (CHS), 2.4% (KHP), and 0.4% (KOWEPS). The APC was -10.5%, -14.2%, -12.2%, and -19.6%, respectively. Compared to last year, the rate of unmet healthcare needs has declined in general. However, the low-income and the elderly population were reporting the highest rate of unmet health care needs, and the disparity between lowest and highest groups were remained. These results suggest that adequate benefit coverage is needed for low-income and elderly population.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.237-243
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• 2022

Unmet healthcare is an important indicator to measure accessibility of healthcare services. To examine the latest status of unmet healthcare needs in South Korea, four different data which is composed of nationally representative sample of South Korean population were used; the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES, 2007-2020), the Community Health Survey (CHS, 2008-2020), the Korea Health Panel Survey (KHP, 2011-2018), and the Korean Welfare Panel Study (KOWEPS, 2006-2020). The proportion of individuals reporting unmet healthcare needs were 6.4% (KNHANES), 5.4% (CHS), and 12.2% (KHP). Annual percentage change (APC) which identifies trend for the follow-up period was -9.9%, -9.1%, and -5.5%, respectively. The proportion of individuals reporting unmet healthcare needs due to cost were 1.0% (KNHANES), 0.4% (CHS), 2.2% (KHP), and 0.4% (KOWEPS). The APC was -11.3%, -17.0%, -12.2%, and -21.2%, respectively. Overall, the low-income and the elderly population reported a higher rate of unmet health care needs. Although the overall experience rate of unmet medical care due to cost decreased over the past decade, the disparity between the lowest and highest income groups still remained in 2020. Disparity between income levels and age groups is a challenge to address in healthcare system, and these results suggest the need for adequate health coverage for the low-income and the elderly populations.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.24 no.8
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• pp.32-42
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• 2024

The Internet of Things (IoT) is set to transform patient care by enhancing data collection, analysis, and management through medical sensors and wearable devices. However, the convergence of IoT device vulnerabilities and the sensitivity of healthcare data raises significant data integrity and privacy concerns. In response, this research introduces the Smart-Coord system, a practical and affordable solution for securing healthcare IoT. Smart-Coord leverages blockchain technology and coordinate-based access management to fortify healthcare IoT. It employs IPFS for immutable data storage and intelligent Solidity Ethereum contracts for data integrity and confidentiality, creating a hierarchical, AES-CBC-secured data transmission protocol from IoT devices to blockchain repositories. Our technique uses a unique coordinate system to embed confidentiality and integrity regulations into a single access control model, dictating data access and transfer based on subject-object pairings in a coordinate plane. This dual enforcement technique governs and secures the flow of healthcare IoT information. With its implementation on the Matic network, the Smart-Coord system's computational efficiency and cost-effectiveness are unparalleled. Smart-Coord boasts significantly lower transaction costs and data operation processing times than other blockchain networks, making it a practical and affordable solution. Smart-Coord holds the promise of enhancing IoT-based healthcare system security by managing sensitive health data in a scalable, efficient, and secure manner. The Smart-Coord framework heralds a new era in healthcare IoT adoption, expertly managing data integrity, confidentiality, and accessibility to ensure a secure, reliable digital environment for patient data management.

• Proceedings of the Korea Association of Information Systems Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.271-285
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• 2003

In the conduct of this study, a web-enabled healthcare system for the management of hypertension was implemented through a hyperlink-based inference approach. The hyperlink-based inference platform implemented using the hypertext capacity of HTML which ensured accessibility, multimedia facilities, fast response, stability, ease of use and upgrade, and platform independency of expert systems. Many HTML documents, which are hyperlinked to each other based on expert rules, were uploaded beforehand to perform the hyperlink-based inference. The HTML documents were uploaded and maintained automatically by our proprietary tool called the Web-Based inference System (WeBIS) that supports a graphical user interface (GUI) for the input and edit of decision graphs. Nevertheless, the editing task of the decision graph using the GUI tool is a time consuming and tedious chore when the knowledge engineer must perform it manually. Accordingly, this research implemented an automatic generator of the decision graph for the management of hypertension. As a result, this research suggests a methodology for the development of Web-enabled healthcare systems using the hyperlink-based inference approach and, as an example, implements a Web-enabled healthcare system for hypertension, a platform which peformed especially well in the areas of speed and stability.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.385-395
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• 2022

Purpose: To support implementation of comprehensive, person-centered healthcare, this study aimed to explore immigrant women's public health center (PHC) service experiences and needs while considering Photovoice's feasibility for this purpose. Methods: This qualitative study included 15 marriage-based immigrant women. Participants were recruited from churches and multicultural family support centers using purposive and snowball sampling. Data were collected through four focus group interviews and were subjected to inductive content analysis. Results: Five categories of experiences were identified: language barriers, hectic environment, affordable and practical primary healthcare, feeling ignored and discriminated against, and feeling frustrated. In addition, five categories of needs were identified: language assistance services, ease of access, healthcare across the lifespan, expansion of affordable healthcare, and being accepted as they are. This study provides preliminary evidence that the Photovoice approach can facilitate the interview process in a qualitative inquiry involving participants with limited ability to express their perspectives in the researchers' language. Conclusion: Study findings highlight the need to implement institutional policy and procedural changes within PHCs and to provide culturally competent, personcentered care for South Korea's marriage-based immigrant women and other ethnic minority populations. The findings also provide evidence-based direction for PHC service planning.

• Healthcare Informatics Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.371-375
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• 2018

Objectives: To successfully introduce an Internet of Things (IoT) system in the hospital environment, this study aimed to identify issues that should be considered while implementing an IoT based on a user demand survey and practical experiences in implementing IoT environment monitoring systems. Methods: In a field test, two types of IoT monitoring systems (on-premises and cloud) were used in Department of Laboratory Medicine and tested for approximately 10 months from June 16, 2016 to April 30, 2017. Information was collected regarding the issues that arose during the implementation process. Results: A total of five issues were identified: sensing and measuring, transmission method, power supply, sensor module shape, and accessibility. Conclusions: It is expected that, with sufficient consideration of the various issues derived from this study, IoT monitoring systems can be applied to other areas, such as device interconnection, remote patient monitoring, and equipment/environmental monitoring.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.936-939
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• 2003

Potential and capabilities of GIS in planning and decision-making is widely known as an experimental tool, but its existence in real-world application is yet to realize. GIS originated in the field of cartography and even at today it is mainly used as a tool for map production. Number of reasons could bring forward for this shortcoming. Limited real-world applications could be a significant one among them. This paper describe an attempt to use GIS technology in Lao PDR where a study team was involved in formulating a Master Plan for national healthcare system. A database was created for the whole country with spatial and descriptive data gathered from various sources. Attempt was made to demonstrate the potential of GIS by using the database for identifying healthcare status, distribution of resources, recognizing deprived areas and locating areas for future investments based on accessibility and social status. The approach justified the investment on a GIS system and introducing the system in the planning sector from grass-root level to central level.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.3-13
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• 2015

For last decades, the interests and efforts to enhance healthcare facility users' experience is focused on improving facility environments for healing (Delvin, 2003) and servicescapes in order to meet the users' needs (Becker, 2008; Seunghee, 2011). In the emerging experience economy, customer want experiences and they're willing to pay for the experiences and memories not goods. (Pine, J. & Gillmore, J., 1999). It is important to identify what supports customer experiences and how they perceive the experiences in healthcare environments and it will provide important information for healthcare planners, managers, architects, and interior designers. This study examines the service user experience design elements from a User Experiences design perspective. It focuses on healthcare facilities as user experience elements and build up a conceptual framework that outlines service user experience design elements in healthcare facilities. Literature review and case studies were conducted to build the service user experience design elements according to affordance theory. Findings from this study shows that service user experience design elements were introduced and newly developed which can be categorized into three factors; 1) Functional experiences in the physical environments (safety, accessibility, self-directiveness), 2) emotional expression and cognitive experiences (identifiability/clarity, natural features/pleasant environment, aesthetic elements/playful space, media richness), 3) social relational experiences(closeness, privacy, communication with staff, integrated system). These service user experience design elements will help healthcare facility designers to understand what customer experiences, how they increase the satisfaction, and how they improve facilities for modeling the industry's best practices.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.184-194
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• 2019

Background: The extent of coverage rate of the public health insurance is still insufficient to meet healthcare needs. Private health insurance (PHI) plays a role to supplement coverage level of national health insurance in Korea. It is expected that reduce unmet need healthcare. This study was aimed to identify relationship between PHI type and the unmet healthcare need and its associated factors. Methods: Data were obtained from the 2014 Korea Health Panel Survey using nationally representative sample was analyzed. Respondents were 8,667 who were adults over 20 years covered by PHI but have not changed their contract. According to the enrollment form, PHI was classified into three types: fixed-benefit, indemnity, and mixed-type. To identify factors associated with unmet needs, multiple logistic regression conducted using the Andersen model factors, which are predisposing factors, enabling factors, and need factors. Results: Our analysis found that subjects who had PHI with mixed-type were less likely to experience unmet health care needs compared than those who did not have it (odds ratio, 0.80; 95% confidence interval, 0.66-0.98). As a result of analyzing what affected their unmet healthcare needs, the significant factors associated with unmet medical need were gender, marital status, residence in a metropolitan area, low household income, economic activity participation, self-employed insured, physically disabled, low subjective health status, and health-risk factors such as current smoking and drinking. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that having PHI may reduce experience of unmet healthcare needs. Findings unmet healthcare needs factors according to various subjects may be useful in consideration of setting policies for improving accessibility to healthcare in Korea.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.315-323
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• 2017

Background: This study was purposed to analyze the effect of spatial accessibility to the psychiatry department in general hospital on the outpatient visit of mental patients. Methods: Data was provided from the Statistics Korea and Statistical Geographic Information Service, National Health Insurance Service, Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, and Korea Transport Institute in 2015. The study regions were 103 administrative regions such as Si and Gu. The 103 regions had at least one general hospitals with a psychiatry department. The number of outpatient visit of mental patients in regions was used as the dependent variable. Spatial accessibility to mental general hospital was used as the independent variable. Control variables included such as demographic, economic, and health medical factors. This study used network analysis and multi-variate regression analysis. Network analysis by ArcGIS ver. 10.0 (ESRI, Redlands, CA, USA) was used to evaluate the average travel time and travel distance in Korea. Multi-variate regression analysis was conducted by SAS ver. 9.4 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA). Results: Travel distance and time had significant effects on the number of outpatient visits in mental patients in general hospital. Average travel time and travel distance had negative effects on the number of visits. Variables such as (number of total population, percentage of aged population over 65, and number of mental general hospital) had significant effects on the number of visit in mental patients. Conclusion: Health policy makers will need to consider the spatial accessibility to the mental healthcare organization in conducting regional health planning.