• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.401-410
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• 2017

This study aimed to identify appropriateness and efficiency in the DRG payment system by analysing the hospital length of stay and changes in fees before and after the application of DRG payment system. The subjects of the study were a total of 398 patients consisting of 204 for the fee for service system and 194 for the DRG payment system. They received surgery in the Obstetrics and Gynecology (OBGY) department of a general hospital in G metropolitan city between January and December 2013. The mean hospital length of stay was significantly decreased after application of the DRG payment system(p=0.013). Total fees, insurance charges, and deductions increased significantly(p<0.001), and non-payment charges and total deductions decreased significantly(p<0.001). Application of the DRG payment system reduced length of stay, non-payment charges and total patient's cost sharing and increased out-of-pocket, insurance charges, and total fees.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.78-99
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• 2000

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the opinions of hospital managers on DRG pilot study. Methods: Managers of 800 hospitals which had participated in DRG pilot study during the period 1997-1999, were requested to respond to structured self-administerd questionnaire. The questionnaire was composed with six categories: the motivation and satisfaction for the DRG pilot study, the opinions on the level of unit price, the appropriateness of DRG classification, the change of medical service quality during the pilot study, the patient's complains resulted from DRG system. and the opinions on the nation-wide application of DRG system. Results : Of the 800 subjects, 327(clinic, 210: 25 hospitals, 82 general hospitals, and 16 tertiary hospitals) completed the questionnaire, and the overall response rate was 41%, 121 hospitals(27%) answered that they participated in DRG pilot study because of convenience of claims and 118 hospitals(35%) dissatisfied with DRG system. 251 hospitals(85%) thought that the level of unit price under the DRG system was same as or lower than that of fee-for service. 297 hospitals(92%) responded that DRG classification should be modified and 137 hospitals(47%) experienced deterioration of medical service quality during the DRG pilot study. The 116 hospitals(35%) experienced the patient's complains resulted from DRG system. The 85 hospitals(88%) didn't want nation-wide application of DRG system. Conclusion: Most of the responded managers seemed to have negative opinions on DRG pilot study, even though they had been participated voluntarily. Further studies and extensive evaluations of DRG reimbursement system are needed before nation-wide application.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.449-461
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between cost and revenue for inpatient nursing activities in general wards. Methods: Data were collected from 12 medical-surgical wards in one general hospital from January 1 to December 31, 2010. The nursing activities were categorized into 2 groups according to nursing service payment type in terms of the Korea health insurance system. Descriptive statistics were used to identify nursing activities and nursing activity costs. Results: Of 140 nursing activities identified as performed in general wards, payment for 69 items was included in nursing management fees. The percentage of each cost for the nursing units was 90% for labor, 4% for materials, and 6% for operating expenses. The cost for medical support nursing service accounted for 38% of costs and nursing management fees, 62%. The average profit and loss was -237,257,000 won. The cost recovery rate for nursing service was only 44%. Conclusion: The results indicate a need to measure the economic value of nursing activities performed in general wards and use it as a basis for establishing an adequate reimbursement system for nursing service.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.1920-1927
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• 2015

This study examined health insurance costs of occupational therapy in stroke patients. The subjects were stroke patients, who underwent occupational therapy by hospitalization or out-patient centers in 2010. The cost of occupational therapy was analyzed from the insurance claims data of Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service in 2010. The kinds of occupational therapy were divided according to the insurance fee of occupational therapy in 2010. In-patients who received occupational therapy paid the highest rehabilitation treatment fee, whereas outpatients paid the highest nervous system function test fee. The cost of occupational therapy in the special rehabilitation treatment fee was highest by 25.3 billion won. The number of uses of general hospitals was the highest by 180 thousand but the total cost of long-term care hospital was highest by 10.4 billion won. The number of uses and cost by regional groups was highest in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do province. This study is meaningful in that a cost analysis of occupational therapy in stroke patients was performed for the first time using the stroke data from the whole country. The result can be used to provide basic data to improve the insurance fee in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.334-347
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• 2006

The aim of this study is to evaluate the reasonableness of the medical fee on oral and maxillofacial surgery field according to surgeon's opinions and actual conditions. The medical fee has significant influence on hospital income, the supply and distribution of medical manpower, quality and facilities of medical services. Questionnaire survey was sent to 86 oral and maxillofacial surgeons who worked more than 3 years in general hospital. Among them, 25 doctors replied the 109 answers survey and the average of treatment time and physician work relative value on each category was calculated. And the health insurance cost (that has been applied since 2003) was compared with the questionnaire results. And finally we investigated items that health insurance system did not include in oral and maxillofacial field but actually performed in oral and maxillofacial surgery clinic. The result was that the medical fee did not properly reflect physician work relative value of actual treatments. In case of complicated extraction, work relative value needed 3.5 times enhancement of present value. For simple impacted tooth extraction 1.8 times, for impacted tooth extraction including odontomy 1.7 times, and for fully impacted tooth more than 2/3 of it located into the alveolar bone, 1.8 times enhancement needed. In respect of the present physician work relative value, hemimandibulectomy with neck lymph node dissection for the malignancy is appropriated as 3.3 times of open reduction and internal fixation for the mandibular fracture, but the questionnaire result showed 25 times discrepancy. In conclusion, this research shows the need for intervention that health insurance included items and legal relative medical value must act in union with treatment in clinic to reduce the imbalance between them.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.161-172
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• 2008

Purpose: This study was to classify patient severity score for hemodialysis patients. Method: The subject of this study was 1,575 patients. To study the severity of the patients, we used t-test and ANOVA. The congruity was measured by Kappa coefficient and the severity in each medical facility was analyzed by ANOVA. Result: The results showed that there was a significant difference according to the levels of medical center (F=171.187, p<.0001). Categorizing the severity of the patients in each medical facility, group II and III of the secondary medical institution had higher ratio than the primary medical institution. There was not a single patient coming under group IV in both of the primary or secondary medical institutions. However, the tertiary medical institutions had more subjects in group II and III than the primary and secondary medical institutions. The group IV with the highest severity had 11 patients(1.5%), demonstrating that the tertiary medical institution had higher severity patients than the primary or secondary medical institutions. Conclusion: The results of this study appropriately reflects the repayment system of medical expenses by the government. Also, it provides the fundamental information to develop nursing fee system taken into account of the systemic differences among the primary, secondary and tertiary medical institutions.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.105-120
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• 2002

In the United States, the prospective payment system(PPS), under which diagnosis related groups (DRGs) are used to reimburse hospitals for the care of Medicare patients since 1983, Study results showed that the PPS is having a major impact on the quantity of services especially of hospital length of stay. The PPS has increased the likelihood that a patient will be discharged home in an unstable condition and the use of nursing homes or long term care facilities increased. Still, it is insufficient to conclude that the PPS has decreased the Medicare total expenditure, but relatively sufficient to conclude that the quality of care hasn't changed. The maintenance of the quality resulted from the systemic "check-and-balance" composed of three factors; (1) The doctors are reimbursed based on the fee-for-service system, (2) hospitals contact with doctors under the attending system, and (3) there are some public hospitals. In Korea, the reimbursement for hospitals and doctors are not divided, the hospitals have doctors as employees, and 90% of hospitals are private. These differences may weaken the "check-and-balance" existing in the U.S. system. And there are few long term care facilities and the diagnostic coding system using in pilot test are not suitable for Korean situation. In conclusion, for successful implementation of the DRG payment system in Korea, the government should establish the "check-and-balance" system in the health sector to make sure the quality of care before the implementation.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.4 no.7
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• pp.67-74
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• 1998

Although Medical Care System pays medical fee for each patients with the establishment of National Medicare System, patients cannot be equally benefited from hospitals. At present, the Korean government provides minimum requirements on medical facilities in enforcement of medical law, but it is not enough to guarantee the rights of patients. The purpose of this study is in search for the way to improve the minimum requirements of ward which will be needed to examine the present situation of general hospitals, to find out their problems, and to compare the law of medical facilities in korea.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.1-16
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• 2010

As a cross-sectional study, this study was aimed to investigate and compare the job efficiency and satisfaction of nurses according to the hospital grade. Survey was conducted by mail on June 2009, and the respondents were 1,016 nurses working in 15 hospitals which are 9 high-grade general hospitals and 6 general hospitals. The percent of nurses acknowledging their hospital grades is 34.5%, and that is 20.5% at high-grade general hospitals. As the result of review of studies, it is concluded that under the circumstance that differential rates are contracted to calculate fees for hospital services and copayment of patients are according to nursing grades and hospital grades, the degree of nurses' awareness of insurance fees impact on their performance like recording of care and prescription. In order to improve nurses' performance, they need to be educated about the national insurance fee system. In hospitals with higher nursing grade and more beds, the levels of nursing quality and faithfulnes and their job satisfaction were higher. Nurses' awareness of their hospital nursing grade was related to the quality of nursing but not the faithfulness. Nurses working in higher nursing-grade hospital are more self-respect and satisfied at their jobs, and their job efficiencies are not significantly different. The current nursing fees based on the proper number of nurses per beds of nursing units should be changed to be based on the amount of job per nurse by their nursing protocol, and the nurse staffing standard should be differentiated between nursing grades. As the aspect of nursing, 24-hours patient care, it is difficult to improve nurses' job satisfaction, and in the other hand, that tends to depend on their income level. In the current circumstance, comprehensive research is required to investigate the propriety of 25% of the inpatient fees as the nursing management charge.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.13-28
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• 2020

Purposes: The purpose of this study is to analyze the institutional and personal factors that affect the medical utilization of patients transferred to tertiary medical institutions. Methodology: We retrospectively analyzed the 2 weeks electronic medical records of 1,556 patients, who were referred to the tertiary hospital, from June 15 to 26, 2015. The patient's personal characteristics, referral hospital, referral path, medical experiences and expenses were analyzed for 6 months after the patient's first visit. Findings: The largest proportion (848; 54.5%) of referrals was referred from primary clinic but the referrals of the same tertiary hospital level were one in seven (228; 14.7%) of the patients. Most patients (1,401; 90%) were referred from the clinics and hospitals directly and only one in ten (155; 10%) of the patients utilized the medical referral center. Patients who had been referred from tertiary care institutions had significantly higher medical costs than those referred to primary care (7,560,000 vs 2,333,000 won). The institutional factors including the numbers of visits to outpatient clinic, previous history of hospitalization and operation, consultation to other medical departments and hospitalization fee significantly influenced on medical utility pattern. Personal factors including patient's medical diagnosis and department of disease have a highly correlation with patient's referrals. Practical implications: The medical utilization of medical expenses and experiences is influenced by institutional and individual factors, and it is important to establish a referral system considering the institutional factors of the type of referral hospital.