• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.29-42
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• 2017

Background : Efforts towards increasing insurance coverage for traditional Korean medicine (TKM) are being continued. However, various difficulties are faced in generating evidence for TKM due to limited financial support and the low quality of research methodology. Objectives : The objectives of this study were to review the Swiss evaluation program for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and assess the expansion in public health insurance coverage of complementary medicine as approved by referendum in Switzerland. Methods : The regulations of CAM in the European Union were assessed. Research articles, reports, government publications and websites which deal with the 'Programm Evaluation $Komplement{\ddot{a}}rmedizin$ (PEK)' and the referendum in Switzerland were searched for and analyzed. Results : The PEK was conducted from 1998 to 2005. The PEK evaluated the efficacy, utilization and cost-effectiveness of anthroposophical medicine, homeopathy, neural therapy, phytotherapy and traditional Chinese medicine. However, clear conclusions could not be drawn from the evaluation according to the PEK Report. Later, a referendum was implemented in which 5 therapies would be added to the Switzerland Constitution with the support of the public. The coverage of CAM was approved by Swiss a plebiscite with an approval rate of 67.0%. Conclusions : The reason for the successful referendum is suggested to be public support and the solidarity with CAM experts and politicians. It may be surmised that recognition of the political efforts and scientific aspects required to expand insurance coverage of TKM, and towards obtaining public support, is necessary.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.121-130
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• 2009

Objectives : To evaluate the effect of heath examination program which introduce web-based input system, OCS(Order communicating system) and interface with national health insurance corporation, this study was done. Method : To Exam/Order and tests separately at anytime, the experimental health examination program which had web-based questionnaire input system, on-line measurement input system, interface program with national health insurance corporation and introduced OCS was developed. Experiment and old examination program were compared in terms of satisfaction and cost. Result : The 95.7% of respondents were satisfied with web-based input system, the 95.4% satisfied with OCS use, and 97.8% satisfied with test at anytime they want. The cost and time reduction between experiment and old program were 4,159,000won and $600.3{\pm}5.75$(seconds) per man input-time. Conclusion : The experimental health examination program is good for employee and hospital. If the health examination program for non-employee will be developed, it will be done efficiently and effectively, but Internet securities will be considered.

• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.241-249
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• 2020

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate possible ways to expand the services of home-visit nursing through a review of the progress, achievements, and obstacles of home-visit nursing; a pilot project of an integrated home-service; the application of the Omaha System; as well as a case analysis of providing home-visit nursing services. Method: An integrated review was conducted using various source materials, including laws, previous studies, and a case analysis. Results: In case analysis of providing visiting nursing service, rehabilitation nursing, end-of-life nursing, and dementia care showed high nursing needs. It was necessary that the various home visit nursing services in the intervention area of the Omaha System, administrative services, case management, and center operation activities were all included in the payment systems of long-term care insurance. Conclusion: In the future, home visit nursing services of long-term care insurance should be reborn in the form of a center for integrated case management in the community, which would set long-term goals until the time of a client's death and encompass the realm of human rights for health, quality of daily life, and a dignity of life.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-30
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• 2009

Korean medical fee contract system between the insurer and healthproviders was introduced in 2000. However, a continuous discord among contracting parties concerned and an irrational operation of an arbitration committee of Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs (MIHWAF) have made it difficult for them to reach to an agreement over last 8 years. The purpose of this study is to observe the current problems of contract system from the view of health insurance law and actual examples. Furthermore, I examined the of breakdown of negotiation by analyzing the eligibility of contracting parties, rationality of Resource Based Relative Value System (RBRVS) and contracting method and fairness of arbitration method in case of negotiation rupture. The results were as follows: First, since the introduction of medical fee contract system, there has been a problem in that both the president of National Health Insurance Corporation (NHIC) and health care provider association have not held strong negotiation power. Second, the frequent changes and notifications of Relative Value Units (RVUs) without any mutual consent between the insurer and provider association negatively have influenced the conversion factors and finally hindered the agreement of contract. Third, a current process that the conversion factors are mediated and determined at the arbitration committee of MIHWAF in the case of contract breakdown between contracting parties has some flaw in that the irrational composition of committee provoked the lack of fairness and objectivity of mediation. Fourth, we can not prospect a satisfactory outcome of arbitration committee because the mediation always has failed to proceed smoothly due to boycott of both committee members from insurer and providers over last 8 years. As a result, we have to make an every effort to resolve problems mentioned above and then dream of an advanced national health insurance system.

• The Journal of Korea Assosiation for Disability and Oral Health
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.11-16
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• 2018

In order to increase the accessibility of dental care for people with disabilities, National Health Insurance Service has implemented an additional point system of National Dental Insurance for dental treatment of patients with a special health care need (AID). The purpose of this study is to investigate the types and status of AID in Korea using data of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service from 2011 to 2017. The basic consultation fee is increased by 9.03 points (713 won) for brain disorder, intellectual disability, mental disability, or autistic disorder. From 2011 to 2015, the number of claims with a basic consultation fee increased from 90,456 to 141,179. Dental treatment and surgical treatment fee is increased by 100% of the defined insurance score for each of the 15 items. During the five years from 2012 to 2016, the number and amount of claims for each item increased steadily. Of the total claims for 5 years, endodontic treatment was highest, with 107,477 cases, followed by 51,641 cases of scaling. There are two types of dental safety observation fee, simple and complex. The simple safety observation fee is 10,370 won per day, and the complex safety observation fee is 20,750 won per day. Dental safety observation fees were charged 34 times in 2015, 14 times in 2016, and 41 times through May 2017. From 2011 to 2017, the number and amount of claims using AID for dental care for people with disabilities increased. However, considering that the number of registered dental users with disability was about 560,000 in 2016, the number of claims using AID is 1-20,000, which is less than 2% of registered dental users with disability. Therefore, it is necessary to expand dental services for people with disabilities including AID.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.65-71
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to examine people's awareness of health insurance in a bid to help improve the management of dental health insurance coverage. The subjects in this study were 1,036 people who included experts in that field and medical consumers. The findings of the study were as follows: 1. In regard to the demographic characteristics of the expert group including gender and age, the female experts outnumbered the males, as the former accounted for 84.7 percent. And the experts in their 20s made up the largest age group, followed by the 30-39 age group and those in their 40s. As to the demographic characteristics of the medical consumers, the rates of the men and women stood at 49.8 percent and 50.2 percent respectively, which were similar. By age, the largest number of the medical consumers were in their 20s, followed by in their 30s and in their 40s. 2. Concerning opinions on the procurement of finance for health insurance, many respondents in both groups agreed that the health insurance coverage should be enlarged by securing more finance, and that items involved in the coverage should be prioritized again. Regarding a means of securing financial resources, the experts placed the most emphasis on extended budgetary support from the government, followed by establishing a social security system and budget compilation by local governments. The medical consumers attached the most importance to extended budgetary backing from the government, followed by budget compilation by local governments and determining contribution according to income level. 3. As for general view of the dental health insurance, the experts believed that the amounts of copayment and self-payment by the insured were appropriate(2.47), and they found the number of benefitted items to be proper(2.29) as well. The medical consumers thought that the benefit percentage of the dental health insurance in the overall health insurance budget was appropriate(2.26), and they also considered the number of benefitted items adequate(2.16). But this group didn't give a lot of marks to the appropriateness of those things. 4. As to perception about the dental health insurance, both groups took a similar view of it. Specifically, they felt the strong need for a dental health insurance system. In terms of satisfaction level, both groups were dissatisfied with it, and there was a strong tendency for them to be discontented with the health insurance coverage.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.11-28
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• 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to derive implication on the adoption of PROMs (Patient-Reported Outcome Measures) to improve quality of care in South Korea. With this purpose, the paper examines the status of PROMs in South Korea and other countries including OECD's PaRIS (Patient Reported Indicators Survey) initiative, and reviews policy cases that have adopted PROMs to improve performance of healthcare system. Methods: We conducted literature review on OECD reports on PaRIS, peer-reviewed journals, and information from the websites of relevant institutions such as ICHOM, NQF and OECD. Results: To identify healthcare services of best values and support patient-centered health system, OECD has initiated PaRIS which develops, collects and analyzes patient-reported indicators for cross-countries comparison. PaRIS is implemented on two work streams: 1) collect, validate and standardize PROMs in the areas where patient-reported indicators already exist such as breast cancers, hip and knee replacement, and mental conditions, 2) develop a new international survey on multiple chronic conditions. Countries like England, U.S., Sweden and Netherlands use PROMs for measuring performance of hospitals and performance evaluation at the national level, and provide the financial incentives for reporting PROMs. Conclusions: The use of PROMs can support the current policy agenda that is the patient-centered healthcare system which has been emphasized to reinforce the primary and the community-based care. For the use of PROMs, it is recommended to actively participate in PaRIS initiative by OECD, select appropriate instruments for PROMs, and continue on standardization of them. This will assure patients' involvement in improving health system performance, systemize information generated in the process of adopting PROMs, and develop a system to evaluate performance.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.203-242
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• 2019

Since 2006, local governments in Korea have been providing premiums for social insurance, such as the National Health Insurance System, for the health care of local residents. The purpose of this study is to analyze the content of self-governing legislation that defines these policies. The method of conducting the research was based on the articles of the ordinance related to the 'public health insurance premium' of the self-governing statutes published on the website of the National Law Information Center. As of May 2019, 201 municipalities have enacted ordinances to support public health insurance premiums. In the case of state local governments, 8 out of 17 were found, and in the case of basic local governments, 193 out of 226. The constitution of the ordinance consisted of purpose, time of enactment, type of social insurance premium, object of social insurance premium, amount of social insurance premium support, method and process of social insurance premium support, time of social insurance premium support. This study analyzed contents of these articles. Finally, this study presented issues that could be controversial from the policy and legal viewpoints and suggestions for improvement.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.101-109
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• 2009

Objectives : This study aimed to investigate the present status of physical therapies provided in the Korean medicine clinics, and to find out the priorities among and the estimated fees of physical therapies for the National Health Insurance plan. Methods : We administered nationwide survey to Korean medicine doctors using the on-line survey system. 16 physical therapies were listed in the Web-based questionnaires, and responders were asked to mark the therapies they used for their patients, and, for each therapy they marked, to fill in the form including the frequencies of service, service fees, target diseases, and priorities for health insurance coverage, etc. Results : Of 488 respondents, 93.7% provide more than one physical therapy for their patients, and each responder uses 5.9 physical therapies on average. 60-90% of physical therapies are being given to patients for free because they are not covered by the National Health Insurance. There is little evidence that the specialties of Korean medicine doctors are related with the use of physical therapies, but, in some therapies, the doctors with longer career years use the physical therapy more frequently. Most physical therapies are applied to the patients with musculoskeletal diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and nervous diseases, etc. Conclusions : Physical therapies are widely used among Korean medicine doctors without proper compensation. This could be the one of the main factors distorting the profit structure of Korean medicine clinics, and it encourages the National Health Insurance to cover physical therapies provided in the Korean medicine clinics.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.63 no.6
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• pp.219-225
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• 2020

Background: There is increasing concern that moderate preterm (32-33 weeks' gestation) and late preterm (34-36 weeks' gestation) birth may be associated with minor neurodevelopmental problems affecting poor school performance. Purpose: We explored the cognitive function, cognitive visual function, executive function, and behavioral problems at school age in moderate to late preterm infants. Methods: Children aged 7-10 years who were born at 32⁺⁰ to 36⁺⁶ weeks of gestation and admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit from August 2006 to July 2011 at the National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital were included. We excluded children with severe neurologic impairments, congenital malformations, or chromosomal abnormalities. Neuropsychological assessments consisted of 5 neuropsychological tests and 3 questionnaires. Results: A total of 37 children (mean age, 9.1±1.2 years) participated. The mean gestational age at birth was 34.6±7.5 weeks, while the mean birth weight was 2,229.2±472.8 g. The mean full-scale intelligence quotient was 92.89±11.90; 24.3% scored between 70 and 85 (borderline intelligence functioning). An abnormal score was noted for at least one of the variables on the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder diagnostic system for 65% of the children. Scores below borderline function for executive quotient and memory quotient were 32.4% and 24.3%, respectively. Borderline or clinically relevant internalizing problems were noted in 13.5% on the Child Behavior Check List. There were no significant associations between perinatal factors or socioeconomic status and cognitive, visual perception, executive function, or behavior outcomes. Conclusion: Moderate to late preterm infants are at risk of developing borderline intelligence functioning and attention problems at early school age. Cognitive and executive functions that are important for academic performance must be carefully monitored and continuously followed up in moderate to late preterm infants.