• Korean Circulation Journal
• /
• v.52 no.4
• /
• pp.265-279
• /
• 2022

Digital health is rapidly growing worldwide and its area is expanding from wellness to treatment due to digital therapeutics (DTx). This study compared DTx in the Korean context with other countries to better understand its political and practical implications. DTx is generally the same internationally, often categorized as software as a medical device. It provides evidence-based therapeutic interventions for medical disabilities and diseases. Abroad, DTx support entailed state subsidies and fundraising and national health insurance coverage. In the case of national health insurance coverage, most cases were applied to mental diseases. Moreover, in Japan, DTx related to hypertension will possibly be under discussion for national health insurance coverage in 2022. In overseas countries, coverage was decided only when the clinical effects were equivalent to those provided by existing technology, and in the UK, real usage data for DTx and associated evaluations were reflected by national health coverage determination. Prices were either determined through closed negotiations with health insurance operating agencies and manufacturers or established based on existing technology. Concerning the current situation, DTx dealing with various diseases including hypertension are expected to be developed near in the future, and the demand for use and compensation will likely increase. Therefore, it is urgent to define and prepare for DTx, relevant support systems, and health insurance coverage listings. Several support systems must be considered, including government subsidies, science/technology funds, and health insurance.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.178-184
• /
• 2020

Background: Korea set up a new diagnosis-related group as a demonstration project in 2009. The new diagnosis-related group was reformed in 2016. The main purpose of the study is to identify the effect of reform on coverage of national health insurance. Methods: This study collected inpatient data from a hospital that contains medical information and cost from 2015 July to 2016 June. The dependent variable was the coverage of national health insurance. The dependent variable was divided by total, internal medicine partition, surgical partition, and psychiatric partition. To analyze the effect of the reform, this study conducted an interrupted time series analysis. The final sample included 23,695. Results: The health insurance coverage of internal medicine has the highest, followed by surgery and psychiatry. The health insurance coverage of bundle payment is higher than that of unbundled payment. The proportion of bundled payment and non-benefit decreased and the proportion of unbundled payment increased. The coverage of national health insurance significantly increased after policy reform in internal medicine partition (p-value=0.0356). Conclusion: The results of the study imply that policy reform enhanced the coverage of national health insurance in internal medicine. The government needs to monitor side effects such as an increase of unbundled payment.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
• /
• v.49 no.4
• /
• pp.248-257
• /
• 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this retrospective study was to investigate the relationships of types of dental insurance coverage in Korea with sociodemographic characteristics and the prevalence of systemic and oral diseases, as well as to evaluate the socioeconomic impact of Korean dental insurance policies. Methods: Sample cohort data from 2006 to 2015 were obtained from the National Health Insurance Service. Patients were divided into 2 groups. The exposed group comprised patients who received insurance benefits for complete dentures, removable partial dentures, and implant care, while the control group comprised patients who did not receive these benefits. The type of insurance coverage and the prevalence of systemic and oral diseases were compared between the 2 groups. Results: Patients who received benefits in the form of complete dentures, removable partial dentures, and implants had similar sociodemographic characteristics in terms of sex, age, income quintile, and type of insurance coverage to the control group. The prevalence of hypertension, anemia, renal disease, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, asthma, and cerebral infarction was higher in the exposed group than in the control group (P<0.05). The prevalence of periodontal diseases and dental caries was also higher in the exposed group. Conclusions: Korean dental health insurance policy has been beneficial for the medical expenses of low-income and elderly people suffering from a cost burden due to systemic diseases. However, since there is a tendency to avoid invasive interventions in older patients due to the high risk of systemic diseases, insurance coverage of dentures may be more helpful from a socioeconomic perspective than coverage of dental implant treatments.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.37-82
• /
• 2009

Korea has gained the much more performances in the fields of pubic health laws and related policies on the basis of the substantial economic achievements. In 1977, the social medical insurance was established for companies with more than 500 employees, and in 1989, Korea successfully achieved the national medical insurance system covering the total population within only 12 years beginning with multiple insurers. There remained some problems, however, to be improved such as both the low level of contribution rates and benefit packages due to the inefficiency in utilizing limited medical resources. In 2000, all insurers were unified into a single insurer (National Health Insurance Corporation), and special independent Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA) was also established. From the origin of medical insurance system in 1977, the Korean reimbursement system has been fee-for-service system, and after the establishment of HIRA, it has been providing objective and expert medical cost review services and health quality assessment services.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.137-153
• /
• 2022

In the process of promoting policies to strengthen health insurance coverage, the relationship between public health insurance and private health insurance, along with the management of non-benefit, is also emphasized as a policy issue. First, the concept and scope of non-benefit were comparatively analyzed by country. Second, the interaction between the public and private health insurance was classified as 'large or small,' and the government's regulation and management policy on private health insurance was classified as 'strong or weak.' Korea has relatively smaller benefits covered by public health insurance, higher copayment expenses, and more areas and scope of non-benefits. In countries where the interaction between public and private health insurance is small, private health insurance-related policies are weak. And in countries with large interactions had public-private partnerships and the government's management policies were also strong. On the other hand, Korea has a large interaction, but the actual structure of cooperation between public and private insurance and management policies were weak. Because the non-benefit sector in Korea is relatively wide, it is difficult to manage compared to other countries where the concept of non-benefit is limited. In addition, the health authorities rarely perform the role of supervision over private health insurance, and they have so few linkages and cooperation for public-private insurance. Therefore, practical policy enforcement is necessary to achieve the easing of the burden of national medical expenses through linkage and cooperation of public-private health insurance with reference to relevant other countries' cases.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.157-172
• /
• 2011

The purpose of this study is to provide basic information for improving medical security between the Korean National Health Insurance Corporation and the private health insurance in Pusan Metropolitan area by investigating of the recognition with the benefit groups. Questionnaires of 431 were taken between Feb. 11th and Feb. 25th 2008. The survey was carried out to gather information about SES and contents of insurance and recognition between the benefit group of the Korean National Health Insurance and the private health insurance on the financial conditions and the stability. The result of survey is as follows. First, there is a difference between the National Health Insurance and the private health insurance on the financial conditions and the stability of the Korean National Health Insurance. Second, there is a high score at the private health insurance on the financial conditions and the stability of the private health insurance. Third, privatizing of a National Health Insurance is high score at increase of the premium, medical payments of the National Health Insurance group and is high score at enhance of quality of medical service and decrease of loss of medical payment of the private health insurance group. Therefore, to provides more information and improved medical security with the benefit group. it is necessary for concerns to put more efforts in creating Conflicting vs. Complementing of systemic base.

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
• /
• v.54 no.8
• /
• pp.604-612
• /
• 2016

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of national health insurance coverage of periodontal scaling using the National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort for 2009-2013. After the enforcement of periodontal scaling covered by national health insurance, the number of patients diagnosed with periodontal disease and received treatment, has increased from 35,234 to 99,576 people in the last 4 years. Further, the number of patients who received the treatment of periodontal disease more than once, have also increased to around 69% in 2013 when compared to 2012. Moreover, the number of patients receiving periodontal scaling has been steadily increasing every year. Among the patients who visited hospital for periodontal disease, there has been an increase of 280%. As a result, continuous public relations and long-term research on the effect of periodontal scaling as a prophylactic treatment is necessary.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.599-616
• /
• 2011

This research was performed to investigate the determination factors of medical service to cover the fee for selecting a doctor which is one of the most important causes of debilitating national health insurance in Korea. Data was from Korea Health Panel and analyzed by Dutton(1986)'s medical service model which was an extended Anderson Model and was widely used in the researches on determination factors of medical service. The results were as follows; In the determinants of selecting a doctor in specialized medical institutions and general hospitals, patients with serious diseases selected doctors more often than other patients. By industrial accident compensation insurance law and enforcement ordinances, insurance covers the fee of selecting a doctor in the hospitals appointed by Labor Welfare Corporation for the patients in critical conditions under industrial accident compensation insurance, while health insurance patients pay the fee themselves for selecting a doctor in all cases. It is suggested that patients with serious diseases proved by medical opinion be provided with health care insurance in selecting a doctor and that the health insurance benefit coverage be enhanced by staged lowering of patient's cost-sharing.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.53 no.4
• /
• pp.285-288
• /
• 2020

The health insurance system in Korea is well-established and provides benefits for the entire national population. In Korea, when patients are treated at a hospital, the hospital receives a partial payment for the treatment from the patient, and the remaining amount is provided by the health insurance service. The Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) assesses whether the treatment was appropriate. If HIRA deems the treatment appropriate, the doctor can receive payment from the health insurance service. However, this system has several drawbacks. In this study, we aimed to provide examples of the problems that can occur in relation to HIRA assessments in Korea through actual clinical cases.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.45 no.3
• /
• pp.148-155
• /
• 2012

Since the reformation of the National Health Insurance Act in 2000, the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) in the Republic of Korea has performed quality assessments for healthcare providers. The HIRA Value Incentive Program (VIP), established in July 2007, provides incentives for excellent-quality institutions and disincentives for poorquality ones. The program is implemented based on data collected between July 2007 and December 2009. The goal of the VIP is to improve the overall quality of care and decrease the quality gaps among healthcare institutions. Thus far, the VIP has targeted acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and Caesarian section (C-section) care. The incentives and disincentives awarded to the hospitals by their composite quality scores of the AMI and C-section scores. The results of the VIP showed continuous and marked improvement in the composite quality scores of the AMI and C-section measures between 2007 and 2010. With the demonstrated success of the VIP project, the Ministry of Health and Welfare expanded the program in 2011 to include general hospitals. The HIRA VIP was deemed applicable to the Korean healthcare system, but before it can be expanded further, the program must overcome several major concerns, as follows: inclusion of resource use measures, rigorous evaluation of impact, application of the VIP to the changing payment system, and expansion of the VIP to primary care clinics.