• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.3-11
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• 2018

Purpose: This study utilized a strong quasi-experimental design to test the hypothesis that the implementation of a policy to expand dental care services resulted in an increase in the usage of dental outpatient services. Methods: A total of 45,650,000 subjects with diagnoses of gingivitis or advanced periodontitis who received dental scaling were selected and examined, utilizing National Health Insurance claims data from July 2010 through November 2015. We performed a segmented regression analysis of the interrupted time-series to analyze the time-series trend in dental costs before and after the policy implementation, and assessed immediate changes in dental costs. Results: After the policy change was implemented, a statistically significant 18% increase occurred in the observed total dental cost per patient, after adjustment for age, sex, and residence area. In addition, the dental costs of outpatient gingivitis treatment increased immediately by almost 47%, compared with a 15% increase in treatment costs for advanced periodontitis outpatients. This policy effect appears to be sustainable. Conclusions: The introduction of the new policy positively impacted the immediate and long-term outpatient utilization of dental scaling treatment in South Korea. While the policy was intended to entice patients to prevent periodontal disease, thus benefiting the insurance system, our results showed that the policy also increased treatment accessibility for potential periodontal disease patients and may improve long-term periodontal health in the South Korean population.

• 한국노년학
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.485-509
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• 2020

This study reviews empirical studies that investigated the impact of marketization of long-term care services on quality of care in Korea, England, Sweden, United States, and Japan. The trend and characteristics of marketization and regulatory system in those countries were compared. Since 2008 when long-term care insurance was introduced in Korea, we selected and reviewed empirical studies which were listed in the National Research Foundation, PubMed and Web of Science and examined the relationship between marketization and quality of care. Seven Korean, three English, two Swedish, seven American studies and one Japan study were identified and there was little evidence supporting that marketization would lead to better quality of care. Specifically, competition had no consistent relationship with quality of care while there was little evidence supporting that for-profit nursing homes tended to exhibit greater quality of care compared to non-for-profit nursing homes. The chains of for-profit nursing homes were revealed to have greater deficiencies. The findings of this review imply that improvement of quality of care may not be achieved by making for-profit nursing homes have chains. Reconstruction of nursing home markets should be needed, and the number and the proportion of public and non-for-profit nursing homes should be increased.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.194-205
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• 2022

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the long-term outcomes after peri-implantitis treatment and the factors affecting these outcomes. Methods: This study included 92 implants in 45 patients who had been treated for peri-implantitis. Clinical data on the characteristics of patients and their implants were collected retrospectively. The change in the marginal bone level was calculated by comparing the baseline and the most recently obtained (≥3 years after treatment) radiographs. The primary outcome variable was progression of the disease after the treatment at the implant level, which was defined as further bone loss of >1.0 mm or implant removal. A 2-level binary logistic regression analysis was used to identify the effects of possible factors on the primary outcome. Results: The mean age of the patients was 58.7 years (range, 22-79 years). Progression of peri-implantitis was observed in 64.4% of patients and 63.0% of implants during an observation period of 6.4±2.7 years (mean±standard deviation). Multivariable regression analysis revealed that full compliance to recall visits (P=0.019), smoking (P=0.023), placement of 4 or more implants (P=0.022), and marginal bone loss ≥4 mm at baseline (P=0.027) significantly influenced the treatment outcome. Conclusions: The long-term results of peri-implantitis treatment can be improved by full compliance on the part of patients, whereas it is impaired by smoking, placement of multiple implants, and severe bone loss at baseline. Encouraging patients to stop smoking and to receive supportive care is recommended before treatment.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.780-787
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• 2011

Purpose: This study was conducted to examine activities of daily living (ADL) of older adults admitted to Korean long-term care hospitals (LTCHs), and to explore the patient and organizational factors that have an impact on the ADL of this population. Methods: A secondary analysis of the Korean minimum data set (K-MDS) of patients (N=14,369) and of the profiles of LTCHs (N=358) from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service was done between January and July 2008. The outcome variable was ADL score 6 months after baseline assessment. Multi-level linear regression was employed to explore the patient and organizational factors that affected ADL scores. Results: Of the patients, 45.4% had a baseline ADL score of between 31 and 40, with a score of 40 indicating that the patient was entirely dependent for all items. None of the organizational characteristics were significantly associated with effects on the ADLs of older adults who had been in a LTHC for at least 6 months. However, patient characteristics, such as age, baseline ADL, frequency of physical therapy, urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence, pressure ulcers, and having a tube or catheter, were significantly associated with ADL 6 months after baseline. Conclusion: In order to maintain and improve the ADL of older adults in LTCHs, we should develop strategies to prevent urinary and fecal incontinence, pressure ulcers, unnecessary tubes or catheters, providing adequate physical therapy. Additional studies should include more detailed information regarding nursing staff, including RN hours for direct care, education level and turnover.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.335-343
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• 2021

Background: The purpose of this study was to extract the major areas of interest in health insurance research in Korea, and infer policy agendas related to health insurance by analyzing research keywords. Methods: For this study, 2,590 articles were selected from among 7,459 academic papers related to health insurance published between January 1987 and December 2018, which were looked up using the Research Information Sharing Service (RISS). Keyword extraction and keyword network analysis were performed using the KrKwic, KrTitle, and UCINET software. Results: First, the number of studies in the area of health insurance continued to increase in all government terms, and it was not until after the 2000s that the subjects of health insurance researches were diversified. Second, degree centrality showed that 'medical expenditure' and 'medical utilization' were consistently high-ranking keywords regardless of the government in power. Aging and long-term care insurance-related keywords were ranked higher in the Lee Myung-bak government, Park Geun-hye government, and Moon Jae-in government. Third, betweenness centrality showed the same high ranking in key topics such as medical expenditure and medical utilization, while the ranking of key keywords differed depending on the interests and characteristics of each government policy. Conclusion: We confirm that health insurance as a research topic has been the main theme in Korean health care research fields. Research keywords extracted from articles also corresponded to the main health policies promoted during each government period. Efforts to systematically investigate policy megatrends are needed to plan adaptive future policies.

• 한국노년학
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.803-814
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• 2010

This study was conducted to understand current management status of welfare medical device centers and to suggest complementary point. Method: We surveyed 194 welfare medical device centers through the mail. The survey was done in three domains, i. e. management of service, assuring the health resources, offering the service. Results & Conclusions: According to the result of our study, several problems, which should be improved in the near future, were suggested. That were improving facilities(especially in sanitization of the devices), operating an education or training program for the personnel, and making up for the current management. It was very important for soft landing of long-term care insurance and improving quality of the elderly's life that 'Ministry of Health and Welfare' and 'National Health Insurance corporation' must support welfare medical device centers for discharging their roles

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.28 no.10
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• pp.247-256
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• 2023

This study was conducted with the purpose of suggesting alternatives for the efficient operation of senior day care facilities in 22 cities and counties in the Jeonnam region by analyzing the efficiency of senior day care facilities. The analysis data for the study used the National Health Insurance Corporation's long-term care insurance for the elderly (2022), the Input variables were the number of facilities, the number of workers, the number of affordable, and the number of senior long-term care insurance recipients and the Output variables were the the number of users. As a result of the analysis, CCR was most efficient in Goheung-gun, Gokseong-gun, Gwangyang-si, Boseong-gun, Yeongam-gun, and Jindo-gun, BCC was most efficient in Goheung-gun, Gokseong-gun, Gwangyang-si, Gurye-gun, Damyang-gun, Boseong-gun, and Jindo-gun, and SE was most efficient in that order: Jindo-gun, Gokseong-gun, and Gwangyang-si. It turned out to be a super efficient area. In the contribution analysis, the number of affordable and workers variables were found to be variables that had a large impact on efficiency contribution. In the improvement potential analysis, the number of facilities variable was found to be a variable that had a significant impact on efficiency. Therefore, for the efficient operation of senior day care facilities, we suggest adjusting supply and demand, such as the number of facilities and affordable, and suggest that training programs to strengthen the expertise of workers who contribute greatly are required.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.836-847
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the association between utilization of home care services under the national long-term care insurance system and family caregiver distress. Methods: A secondary data analysis was conducted in this study using data collected in 2011 and 2012 from the Korean version of International Resident Assessment Instrument (interRAI) Home Care assessment system. The study sample included 228 clients receiving community based home care and their family caregivers in Korea. Descriptive statistics, $x^2$ test, t-test, and Heckman selection model analysis were conducted using SAS 9.3. Results: Presence of family caregiver distress was significantly associated with days of nurse visits (${\beta}$=-.89, p=<.001) and home helper visits (${\beta}$=-.53, p=.014). Level of caregiver distress was also significantly associated with days of nurse visits (${\beta}$=-.66, p=.028). Other factors which were significantly associated with caregiver distress were depression, cognitive function, inadequate pain control, social support for older adult, and caregiver relationship to the older adult. Conclusion: The results of this study show that visiting nurse service and appropriate support programs for Older Adults and family caregivers experiencing caregiver distress should be developed and provided to families based on the health care needs of older adults and their family caregivers for effective and sustainable home care.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.27-42
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• 2017

Objectives : This study analyzes the characteristics of hospital organization structures, insurance claims reviews and assessment tasks and their effects on hospitals in Pusan. Methods : The data for this study were collected through interview and self-administered surveys in 109 hospitals. The study included only - hospitals with a minimum of 50beds and excluded those providing only dental, psychiatric, or long-term care. Results : The findings of this study state that the number of beds has an influence on the organizitional structure. Conclusions : Hospital managements should seek human resources management(the insurance claims reviewer and evaluator) schemes that take into account the characteristics of the medical institution. In addition, insurance claims review and assessment tasks in hospitals require considerable knowledge and experience, and hospitals should be equipped with staff that have the relevant expertise. Therefore, to further deepen knowledge, comprehensive training should be continuously carried out in order to produce specialists in claims review and assessment.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.255-264
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• 2014

Objective: The aims of this study are to investigate the total volume of prescribed medicines against Alzheimer's disease (AD) and the trends of usage by analyzing the claims-data from the Korea National Health Insurance Service. Method: The demographic and claims-data were included the major AD treating medicines such as donepezil, galantamine, rivastigmine and memantine, and analyzed during the period of 2010~2012. The assessing criteria were gender, age, habitation, types of medical institution, code of ingredients, outcomes of treatment, volume and amount of claims, and the numbers of patients with dementias. After trimming the data, it were analyzed by the market size, demographic traits, characteristics of medical service, characteristics of each anti-AD medicine, etc. Results: Among the chosen 4 medicines, donepezil had the top prescription volumes. Most prevalent prescribing preparations of donepezil were conventional types. However, among the non-conventional types, oro-dispersible formulation is the fast increasing one in both volume and growth rate. This specialized preparations to improve both toleration and adherence, tend to being prescribed generally at the tertiary medical institutions. While the younger patients with mild-to-moderate AD mostly treated by expensive medicines in resident at the tertiary hospitals, the rest older patients with severe AD have been treated non-expensive one at long-term care facilities. Conclusion: AD is a chronic illness therefore, long-term use of therapeutic medications are highly important. If an anti-AD treatment was applied steadily in the earlier stages, it would be achieved not only improving the quality of life of patient but also reducing the expenses in the medical and nursing cares. As the socioeconomical impacts of AD is expanding, healthcare professionals need to aware the importance of pharmacotherapy and to improve sociopolitical fundamentals.