• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.17-21
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• 2021

In 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused unprecedented disruptions to global health systems. The Korea has taken full-fledged actions against this novel infectious disease, swiftly implementing a testing-tracing-treatment strategy. New obligations have therefore been given to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) to devote the utmost effort towards tackling this global health crisis. Thanks to the universal national health insurance and state-of-the-art information communications technology (ICT) of the Korea, HIRA has conducted far-reaching countermeasures to detect and treat cases early, prevent the spread of COVID-19, respond quickly to surging demand for the healthcare services, and translate evidence into policy. Three main factors have enabled HIRA to undertake pandemic control preemptively and systematically: nationwide data aggregated from all healthcare providers and patients, pre-existing ICT network systems, and real-time data exchanges. HIRA has maximized the use of data and pre-existing network systems to conduct rapid and responsive measures in a centralized way, both of which have been the most critical tactics and strategies used by the Korean healthcare system. In the face of new obligations, our promise is to strive for a more responsive and resilient health system during this prolonged crisis.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.80 no.3
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• pp.221-225
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• 2017

Since 2015, the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) has performed annual qualitative assessments of asthma management provided by all medical institutions that care for asthma patients in Korea. According to the third report of qualitative assessment of asthma management in 2017, the assessment appears to have contributed to improving the quality of asthma care provided by medical institutions, especially primary clinics. However, there is still a gap between the ideal goals of asthma management and actual health care policies/regulations in real clinical settings, which leads to the state of standstill with respect to the quality of asthma management despite considerable efforts such as the qualitative assessment of asthma management by national agencies such as the HIRA. At this point, a harmonized approach is needed to raise the level of asthma management among several components including medical policies, efforts of academic associations such as education and distribution of the guideline for management, and reliable financial support by the government.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.266-271
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• 2022

Background: The selection of distributions of input parameters is an important component in probabilistic exposure assessment. Goodness-of-fit (GOF) methods are used to determine the distribution of exposure factors. However, there are no clear guidelines for choosing an appropriate GOF method. Objectives: The outcomes of probabilistic consumer exposure assessment were compared by using five different GOF methods for the selection of input distributions: chi-squared test, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (K-S), Anderson-Darling test (A-D), Akaike information criterion (AIC) and Bayesian information criterion (BIC). Methods: Individual exposures were estimated based on product usage factor combinations from 10,000 respondents. The distribution of individual exposure was considered as the true value of population exposures. Results: Among the five GOF methods, probabilistic exposure distributions using the A-D and K-S methods were similar to individual exposure estimations. Comparing the 95th percentiles of the probabilistic distributions and the individual estimations for 10 CPs, there were 0.73 to 1.92 times differences for the A-D method, and 0.73 to 1.60 times differences (excluding tire-shine spray) for the K-S method. Conclusions: There were significant differences in exposure assessment results among the selection of the GOF methods. Therefore, the GOF methods for probabilistic consumer exposure assessment should be carefully selected.

• KIEAE Journal
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.33-41
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• 2017

Purpose: Indoor air quality in residential buildings needs to be evaluated over the long term. In previous research, there has been an attempt to perform the health risk assessment of pollutants by using numerical models as a method of long-term evaluation. However, the numerical model of this precedent study has limitations that do not reflect the actual concentration distribution. Therefore, this study introduces the CRPS index, constructs a numerical model that can reflect the concentration distribution, and then presents a more accurate health risk assessment method using it. At this time, the pollutants are toluene, which is a typical material released from building materials. Method: CRPS index was applied to existing numerical model to reflect concentration distribution. This was used to calculate concentrations at adult breathing area and to use them for exposure assessment in a health risk assessment. After that, we entered adult data and conducted a health risk assessment of toluene. Results: The non-carcinogenic risk of toluene was calculated to be 0.0060. This is 5% smaller than the existing numerical model, meaning that it is more accurate to predict the pollutant risks. This value is also lower than the US EPA reference value of 1. Therefore, under the conditions of this study, long-term exposure of adults to toluene has no impact on health.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.616-625
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• 2019

Health impact assessment is implemented within the Environmental impact assessment for the purpose of minimizing health damage by predicting the impact on human health following implementation of the development project. In health impact assessment, manual revision is required due to the lack of consistency in the method of estimating hazardous air pollutants emissions. This study estimated the emissions by calculating the emissions of hazardous air pollutants based on the actual industrial complex development cases and completed health impact assessments. As a result of risk assessment based on exposure concentration using CALPUFF model, the risk assessment results were different for each of the emission estimation methods, and manual improvement on the emission estimation method is needed.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.391-402
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• 2020

Health Impact Assessment based on municipal law is performed and written in the sanitary and public health part in the current environmental impact assessment. Residential development projects such as housing site development etc., are not subject to health impact assessment under Article 13 of the Environmental Health Act. However, health impact assessment is conducted partially based on the review that health impact assessment targets which are identified among substances emitted from pollutants nearby industrial complexes should be assessed risk (including carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic) at the stage of the environmental impact assessment consultation. Although residential development projects do not have plans for pollutant emitting facilities that emit hazardous air pollutants, there is a possibility that residents might be affected by pollutants from industrial complex near residential area in the future. In this study, Health impact assessment was conducted to examine the impact on residents in planned areas by analyzing previous residential development projects. We predicted future impact by using the literature survey results on surrounding area (case1) and conducting contribution analysis (case2) and predicting exposure concentration of carcinogenic substances applying Atmospheric Diffusion Model (AERMOD). By this study, we concluded that applying on-site survey, contribution analysis and prediction of exposure concentration by using AERMOD complementarily will be effective to assess the health impact to the receptors by pollutants from industrial complexes near the planned zone.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.19-28
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• 2010

Industrial Safety and Health Law (ISH Law) of Japan requires abnormalities identified in evaluations of worker health and working environments are reported to occupational physicians, and employers are advised of measures to ensure appropriate accommodations in working environments and work procedures. Since the 1980s, notions of a risk assessment and occupational safety and health management system were expected to further prevent industrial accidents. In 2005, ISH Law stipulated workplace risk assessment using the wording "employers shall endeavor." Following the amendment, multiple documents and guidelines for risk assessment for different work procedures were developed. They require ISH Laws to be implemented fully and workplaces to plan and execute measures to reduce risks, ranking them from those addressing potential hazards to those requiring workers to wear protective articles. A governmental survey in 2005 found the performance of risk assessment was 20.4% and common reasons for not implementing risk assessments were lack of adequate personnel or knowledge. ISH Law specifies criminal penalties for both individuals and organizations. Moreover, under the Labor Contract Law promulgated in 2007, employers are obliged to make reasonable efforts to ensure employee health for foreseeable and avoidable risks. Therefore, enterprises neglecting even the non-binding provisions of guidelines are likely to suffer significant business impact if judged to be responsible for industrial accidents or occupational disease. To promote risk assessment, we must strengthen technical, financial, and physical support from public-service organizations, encourage the dissemination of good practices to reduce risks, and consider additional employer incentives, including relaxed mandatory regulations.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.19 no.4 s.54
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• pp.34-47
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• 2004

Although Environmental Impact Assessment(EIA) in Korea has been improved markedly over the past two decades, by enlarging the range of projects for assessment, instituting pub lic participation and environmental monitoring, and similar measures, it remains deficient in its coverage of human health in Environmental Impact Statements(EISs). Health Impact Assessment(HIA) can supply the necessary correctives. HIA is a combination of procedures, methods and tools by which a policy, programme, projects or legislative procedure may be judged for its potential effects on the health of a population, and the distribution of these effects within it. The principle of health protection is, however, established as a primary concern in EIA processes, in practice health is scarcely mentioned or the discussion is limited to a description of effects through the biophysical environment. The whole range of possible effects on health, including those mediated by socio-economic factors is often ignored, and no effective mechanism are in place to successfully incorporating health criteria and expertise into environmental, assessment(EA) that include ElA, SEA. These are foremost among the current issues facing EIA in Korea.

• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.105-114
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• 2023

Purpose: This study aimed to comprehensively analyze the recent revision of the Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS)-D to version E in the United States to identify the most recent trends in home health care and provide suggestions for implementing home health care in Korea. Methods: This study is a comprehensive literature review. We compared all items in OASIS-D and OASIS-E and identified the most significant changes. Additionally, we have discussed the context in depth. Results: The addition of items related to health literacy and medication reconciliation, strengthening assessment in the cognitive and mood domains, and improving items related to pain assessment were identified. These major revisions resulted from a greater emphasis in the healthcare field on social determinants of health. Additionally, the COVID-19 outbreak highlighted the importance of monitoring and managing the symptoms of home care patients in the community. Conclusion: The key items of the OASIS amendment and their background analysis proposed in this study could serve as a cornerstone for the revision of home health care assessment tools or the development of systematic common assessment tools in Korea.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.51-59
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• 1992

Environmental Impact Assessment(EIA) is defined as an activity designed to identify and predict the impact on the environment. In the process of an EIA, the quantitative evaluation is generally performed for the air and water quality which have the national environmental quality standards. But the predicted values for the air and water quality are simply compared to the environmental standards. At present, the EIA process of Korea has no consideration for the possible human health risk resulting from the development projects. Environmental Health Impact Assessment(EHIA) is an applied methodology of EIA to estimate the acceptable health risk caused by a specified level of environmental pollutants. Estimating the excessive lifetime risk that is a possibility of dying of a certain disease by environmental contaminants, is useful as an evaluation technique of EHIA. It is recommanded the decision-makers to make efficient use of EHIA not only the development projects but also legislative proposals, policies and programmes in future.