• 보건행정학회지
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• 제32권2호
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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.

• 보건행정학회지
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• 제33권1호
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• pp.1-2
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• 2023

As the industrial paradigm shift, often condensed as the "4th Industrial Revolution," gains momentum, there is a growing need to actively introduce digital healthcare into the medical field. The new administration announced its commitment to become a global leader in the biohealth and digital healthcare sector. To fulfill this pledge, preemptive policy leadership and attention from the government are required. The recent issue of legislating non-face-to-face medical care suggests that introducing digital healthcare goes beyond simply adopting new technologies. Incorporating digital healthcare involves changing the existing healthcare delivery process and coordinating the roles of stakeholders. To successfully change the structure of the medical industry, a mid- to long-term roadmap should be meticulously organized and promoted. Policy efforts are needed to resolve conflicts and lead to compromises through continuous communication with interest groups.

• 보건행정학회지
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• 제27권2호
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• pp.97-102
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• 2017

On May 10, 2017, Moon Jae-in's Government launched. The election pledges of Moon's Government in healthcare sector were extracted from those of president election camp and Democratic Party. The main pledges were enhancing the coverage of healthcare costs, management of healthcare costs for elderly, restructuring the health insurance contribution system, and improving the public nature of healthcare system. There are many policy tasks to realize the electoral pledge, especially, financial task is main. The National Planning and Advisory Committee are setting the policy priorities and making the detailed plans. Although this paper deals the initial evaluation of main election pledges, the precise evaluation is needed for the final plan of healthcare policy.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• 제18권3호
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• pp.144-152
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• 2016

Purpose: This study compares beneficiaries of Korean Medicaid with those under the National Health Insurance program, seeking to understand how each group utilizes their healthcare. Methods: Data were obtained from a Health Promotion Survey in 2005. Health status was measured by the respondents' perception of health. Health service utilization included the availability of healthcare services, the type of healthcare institution, and intent to revisit. Predisposing and enabling factors, as well as health care needs were used for this study. Results: Compared to National Health Insurance beneficiaries, Medicaid beneficiaries reported lower levels of health status and fewer enabling factors. They had more chronic diseases and disabilities. Education level, existence of chronic diseases, exercise patterns, and disabilities were associated with health status. Conclusion: We found that Medicaid beneficiaries had fewer resources and higher levels of health needs. As Medicaid is reformed, policy makers and administrators should understand healthcare utilization behaviors of Medicaid beneficiaries and the factors hindering access to care.

• 보건행정학회지
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• 제31권2호
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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.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제52권6호
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• pp.355-365
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• 2019

Objectives: In rural areas of Korea, where public transportation infrastructure is lacking and alternative systems are poor, the elderly experience inconveniences in using healthcare, although their need is high. This study aimed to analyze the association between the convenience of transportation and unmet healthcare needs among the rural elderly. Methods: The data used were collected in the 2016 Community Health Survey among rural elderly individuals aged 65 or older. Dependent variable was the unmet healthcare needs, explanatory variable was the convenience of transportation. The elderly were divided into 3 groups: with no driver in the household, with a driver, and the elderly individual was the driver (the self-driving group). Covariates were classified into predisposing, enabling, and need factors. They included gender, age, education, income, economic activity, household type, motor ability, subjective health level, number of chronic diseases, anxiety/depression, and pain/discomfort. The data were analyzed using logistic regression and stratification. Results: A significant association was found between the convenience of transportation and unmet healthcare needs. When examined unadjusted odds ratio of the group with a driver in the household, using the group with no driver as a reference, was 0.61 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.54 to 0.68), while that of the self-driving group was 0.34 (95% CI, 0.30 to 0.38). The odds ratios adjusted for all factors were 0.69 (95% CI, 0.59 to 0.80) and 0.79 (95% CI, 0.67 to 0.91). Conclusions: We confirmed a significant association between inconvenient transportation and unmet healthcare needs among the rural elderly even after adjustment for existing known factors. This implies that policies aimed at improving healthcare accessibility must consider the means of transportation available.

• 보건행정학회지
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• 제25권1호
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• pp.3-10
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• 2015

Background: Previous studies showed differences in healthcare utilization among insurance types. This study aimed to analyze the difference in healthcare utilization for percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty inpatients by insurance types after controlling factors affecting healthcare utilization using propensity score matching (PSM). Methods: The 2011 national inpatient sample based on health insurance claims data was used for analysis. PSM was used to control factors influencing healthcare utilization except insurance types. Length of stay and total charges were used as healthcare utilization variables. Patients were divided into National Health Insurance (NHI) and Medical Aid (MA) patients. Factors representing inpatients (gender, age, admission sources, and Elixhauser comorbidity index) and hospitals (number of doctors, number of beds, and location of hospitals) were used as covariates in PSM. Results: Tertiary hospitals didn't show significant difference in length of stay and total charges after PSM between two insurance types. However, MA patients showed significantly longer length of stay than that of NHI patients after PSM in general hospitals. Multivariate regression analysis provided that admission sources, Elixhauser comorbidity index, insurance types, number of doctors, and location of hospitals (province) had significant influences on the length of stay in general hospitals. Conclusion: Study results provided evidences that healthcare utilization was differed by insurance types in general hospitals. Health policy makers will need to prepare interventions to influence the healthcare utilization differences between insurance types.

• 보건행정학회지
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• 제28권3호
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• pp.288-293
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• 2018

In 1994 Korea government began to develop the healthcare industry, since then the government has tried to create opportunities to promote the industry through various political efforts and policies. The biggest achievement was attracting foreign patients from 2009 to 2016 with a cumulative 1.56 million and total revenue of 3 trillion won. But Korea still loses the opportunity to become a global leader in the health care industry due to regulations and various ideological disputes. Accordingly, it is necessary to facilitate policy understanding and present a practical road map so that Korea's healthcare industry become a new growth engine that will lead the trend of global market in the future. It also suggests a national economic development paradigm, the health economy as health and economic value are rotated through a shift in view of health care. At this point, 20 years after the beginning of the healthcare industry development, it is necessary to evaluate the related policies and discuss effective future directions. In this sense, the purpose of this study is to examine the policies and limitations of the healthcare industry by each government division, and based on it, to propose political tasks for the future.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제56권6호
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• pp.515-522
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• 2023

Objectives: The pandemic caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has exerted an unprecedented impact on the health of populations worldwide. However, the adverse health consequences of the pandemic in terms of infection and mortality rates have varied across countries. In this study, we investigate whether COVID-19 mortality rates across a group of developed nations are associated with characteristics of their healthcare systems, beyond the differential policy responses in those countries. Methods: To achieve the study objective, we distinguished healthcare systems based on the extent of healthcare decommodification. Using available daily data from 2020, 2021, and 2022, we applied quantile regression with non-additive fixed effects to estimate mortality rates across quantiles. Our analysis began prior to vaccine development (in 2020) and continued after the vaccines were introduced (throughout 2021 and part of 2022). Results: The findings indicate that higher testing rates, coupled with more stringent containment and public health measures, had a significant negative impact on the death rate in both pre-vaccination and post-vaccination models. The data from the post-vaccination model demonstrate that higher vaccination rates were associated with significant decreases in fatalities. Additionally, our research indicates that countries with healthcare systems characterized by high and medium levels of decommodification experienced lower mortality rates than those with healthcare systems involving low decommodification. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that stronger public health infrastructure and more inclusive social protections have mitigated the severity of the pandemic's adverse health impacts, more so than emergency containment measures and social restrictions.

• 한국정보통신학회논문지
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• 제12권10호
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• pp.1767-1772
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• 2008

최근 웰빙, 건강 등을 추구하는 보건의료분야에 대한 관심이 증가하면서, 언제, 어디서나 자신의 건강에 대한 상태를 모니터링 할 수 있도록 가능하게 하는 u-Healthcare 서비스가 주목받고 있다. 기존의 의료정보시스템은 측정값의 저장과 단순 디스플레이만이 지원되는 구조로 구성되어 있으나, 이러한 의료정보시스템에서 사용자가 편리하고 효율적인 상태확인이나 진단을 하기 위해서는 원하는 의료정보를 빠르고 정확하게 제공해주도록 원활한 상호 작용을 해야 할 필요성이 있다. 이와 관련하여 본 연구결과는 u-Healthcare의 다양한 서비스에서 보다 사용자 친화적(user-friendly)이면서도 더 나은 정보변별력을 제공하는 Visualization Engine에 대한 개발적 내용을 제시하였다.