• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.54-90
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• 2006

Medical clinics are core institutes that cover the primary medical care in Korea. Financial viability of the clinics is essential for them to conduct their roles and functions, and can be improved by increasing their operating profitability. On this ground, this study aimed at finding important factors that affect the operating profitability, and thereby at suggesting strategic alternatives that can contribute to the improvement of the profitability. Operating margin was set as a dependent variable, and such factors as general management conditions, number of visits, medical revenue, marketing activities, input resources, medical cost as independent variables. Nineteen hypotheses related to the variables were established and tested using data collected from 138 sample clinics for the year 2003. The results of the study are as follows : Firstly, such variables as percent ratio of the depreciation plus rent costs to total administration costs, type of clinical department manifested whether medical, surgical, or quasi-surgical, percent ratio of the interior facility investment to total fixed assets, and total number of outpatient visit are important factors that affect, positively or negatively, the medical profitability of the clinics. Secondly, following measures are needed to be established and implemented to improve the medical profitability. (1) Administration costs share 53.2% of the total medical costs, and depreciation plus rent costs 16.3% of the total administration costs. This implies that such measures as reinforcement of marketing activities, establishment of the cooperative utilizing system of the facility and equipment, or group practice are needed to increase cost-effectiveness. (2) Occupancy rate of the clinics with inpatient bed is as low as 45.5%, causing high fixed costs and low medical profitability. For its improvement, the resource input structure should be reorganized. Thirdly, in the future, a study that can increase sample representativeness of the study and explanation power of the variables should be performed for each type of clinical department to find more specific determinant factors and to contribute to the improvement of the medical profitability of the clinics.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.303-310
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• 2017

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate socioeconomic inequalities in the prevalence of dental caries among an urban population. Methods: This study was conducted among 2000 people 15-40 years of age living in Kurdistan, Iran in 2015. Using a questionnaire, data were collected by 4 trained dental students. The dependent variable was the decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMF) index. Using principal component analysis, the socioeconomic status (SES) of families was determined based on their household assets. Inequality was measured using the concentration index; in addition, the Oaxaca analytical method was used to determine the contribution of various determinants to the observed inequality. Results: The concentration index for poor scores on the DMF index was -0.32 (95% confidence interval [CI], -0.40 to -0.36); thus, poor DMF indices had a greater concentration in groups with a low SES (p<0.001). Decomposition analysis showed that the mean prevalence of a poor DMF index was 43.7% (95% CI, 40.4 to 46.9%) in the least privileged group and 14.4% (95% CI, 9.5 to 9.2%) in the most privileged group. It was found that 85.8% of the gap observed between these groups was due to differences in sex, parents' education, and the district of residence. A poor DMF index was less prevalent among people with higher SES than among those with lower SES (odds ratio, 0.31; 95% CI, 0.19 to 0.52). Conclusions: An alarming degree of SES inequality in oral health status was found in the studied community. Hence, it is suggested that inequalities in oral health status be reduced via adopting appropriate policies such as the delivery of oral health services to poorer groups and covering such services in insurance programs.

• Korean Journal of Artificial Intelligence
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.39-44
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• 2023

The creativity of thesis is that the significance of cyber security challenges in blockchain. The variety of enterprises, including those in the medical market, are the targets of cyberattacks. Hospitals and clinics are only two examples of medical facilities that are easy targets for cybercriminals, along with IoT-based medical devices like pacemakers. Cyberattacks in the medical field not only put patients' lives in danger but also have the potential to expose private and sensitive information. Reviewing and looking at the present and historical flaws and vulnerabilities in the blockchain-based IoT and medical institutions' equipment is crucial as they are sensitive, relevant, and of a medical character. This study aims to investigate recent and current weaknesses in medical equipment, of blockchain-based IoT, and institutions. Medical security systems are becoming increasingly crucial in blockchain-based IoT medical devices and digital adoption more broadly. It is gaining importance as a standalone medical device. Currently the use of software in medical market is growing exponentially and many countries have already set guidelines for quality control. The achievements of the thesis are medical equipment of blockchain-based IoT no longer exist in a vacuum, thanks to technical improvements and the emergence of electronic health records (EHRs). Increased EHR use among providers, as well as the demand for integration and connection technologies to improve clinical workflow, patient care solutions, and overall hospital operations, will fuel significant growth in the blockchain-based IoT market for linked medical devices. The need for blockchain technology and IoT-based medical device to enhance their health IT infrastructure and design and development techniques will only get louder in the future. Blockchain technology will be essential in the future of cybersecurity, because blockchain technology can be significantly improved with the cybersecurity adoption of IoT devices, i.e., via remote monitoring, reducing waiting time for emergency rooms, track assets, etc. This paper sheds the light on the benefits of the blockchain-based IoT market.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.177-182
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• 2009

Objectives : Both organized and opportunistic screening programs have been widely used in Korea. This paper examined the determinants of the use of opportunistic screening programs in Korea. Methods : The subjects were a national stratified random sample of 10,254 people aged 45 or older from the first wave of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing in 2006. A logit model was used to examine the determinants of the use of opportunistic screening programs in terms of the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, the type of health insurance and the health status. Results : Thirteen point seven percent of the individuals received opportunistic screening programs within 2 years from the time the survey was conducted in 2006. The individuals who graduated from college or who had even more education were 3.0 times more likely to use opportunistic screening programs compared with the individuals who were illiterate. The individuals who resided in urban areas and who had religious beliefs were more likely to receive opportunistic screening programs compared with their counterparts. Those who were in the first quartile for the total household assets were 2.6 times more likely to use opportunistic screening programs than those who were in the fourth quartile for the total household assets. Privately insured people were 1.6 times more likely to use opportunistic screening programs than those who were not insured. Finally, the individuals who self-assessed their health status as worst were 2.1 times more likely to use opportunistic screening programs compared individuals who self-assessed their health status as best. Conclusions : This study suggests that opportunistic screening programs can be an indicator for whether or not an individual is among the advantaged group in terms of their socioeconomic characteristics and type of health insurance.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.373-379
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• 2015

Supply units in each command are multi-tiered and each supply unit keeps a supply level independently, which can cause excess stock, leading false reports to the Logistics Command and increasing difficulties in managing user needs. This causes excess assets and the excess then causes deformation in demand. therefore, the supply support systems of our armed forces have become high-cost/low-efficiency and are insufficient to meet the needs of users in combat units. Civilian corporations and the US Department of Defense are downsizing the aforementioned multi-tiered supply systems thus revolutionizing efficient and effective logistics by adopting Supply Chain Management(SCM), and Prime Vendor policies. Prime Vendor policy is a logistics support method that allows users to directly request and receive supply items from suppliers, based on supply contracts between suppliers and central maintenance organizations like KDA. In other words, it is a system that allows for users to make orders to suppliers directly and suppliers to deliver goods to the users directly, cutting out the middle stage, thus allowing an efficient supply. This is a way forward in finance that cuts costs in net supplies and allows an efficient utilization of civilian assets. which is also known to fasten the speed of logistical support and stripping down the logistical structure. therefore, this report will explore Prime Vendor policies adopted in certain number of units for medical supplies that were taken in consideration of improvements in stock management in civilian organizations and the US Army, and aims to apply such policies for repair parts.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.135-151
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• 2013

The study has been carried out to understand productivity-related factors that have been connected to improve financial independence rate of national university hospital. In order to achieve such research purpose as working out implications of efficient resource management, data from the four years between 2007 to 2010 of 12 national university hospitals were reviewed. According to the results, the hospitals came up with significant differences in Value Added to Total Asset, Value Added to Tangible Fixed Assets, Value Added to Personnel Expenses and Value Added Ratio to Patient Revenues. In addition, after the relation between the investment efficiency and profitability of the national university hospitals was investigated, it was learned that application of basic environmental factors would have an influence on a profitability index Operating Margin. As long as the basic environmental factors are adopted, Operating Margin of the national university hospitals is improved under the condition that the Value Added to Tangible Fixed Assets for Production and the Value Added to Personnel Expenses gets higher but the Value Added Ratio to Patient Revenues gets lowered.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.209-222
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• 1996

The purpose of this study is to apply ratio analysis, which indicates the rate of income to total expenditure, to examine wage-earners' overspending in Korea. We use the Family Income and Expenditure Survey produced by National Statistical Office Republic of Korea and total sample size is 40,691 including households complete income reported. Through the t-test, among 17 expenditure categories, overspenders is likely to spend more on housing, apparel, medical, education, and leisure expenditures more than non-overspenders significantly. Interestingly, overspenders have more income, but less financial assets than non-overspenders. To analyze the effect of socio-demographic variables on overspending, ordinary least square is utilized. The results shows that the more educated, larger family size, and older consumer tend to overspend. The results of study are leaded into two aspects. First, overspending can be solved by consumer education with efficient financial management practice. Second, overspending may be not solved unless policies in various ways enhance the overall quality of living to lessen each household's budget constraints.

• International Journal of Quality Innovation
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.46-70
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• 2007

Customer Support Knowledge of Customer Support Organization is one of the important assets of enterprises and "Customer Support Knowledge Management" is also the critical aspect of Business Knowledge Management; however, the attributes of Customer Support Knowledge are complicated, diverse, renewed rapidly and difficult to be managed. Thus, in order to design a successful Customer Support Knowledge Management System, apart from the consideration of "human" and "information technology" aspects, the concerns of attributes and Customer Support Knowledge and industry characteristics should be involved for meeting the requirements of Customer Support Organization and allowing the organization to acquire the competitive advantage of "Differentiation Service". This research used the "Customer Support Knowledge Management System" in a high-tech industry as an example and treated the end users of medical instruments in different types of hospitals in Taiwan which have received the support service of our company in recent six months as the population. The end users were mostly the nursing executives or ultrasonic wave technical personnel in intensive care unit and they had similar educational background and incomes and adopted the medical instruments such as physical supervision system, ultrasonic wave system, heart start or ECG machine produced by our company; the research method was to randomly treat the investigation results of the telephone customers' satisfaction from respective 30 end users in the population three months before and after this system execution as the samples and use hypotheses to validate if the end users' customer satisfaction significantly improved in terms of "Remote Support," "On-site Support," "Service Turn Around time," "Technical Competence" and "Manner" in order to understand the influence and managerial significance of execution of "Customer Support Knowledge Management System" on Customer Support Organization.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.53-64
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• 2018

Purposes: The hospitals needs to generate a minimum profit, in order to perform its own role such as providing high-quality medical services. The demand for hospital management is increasing, as the social demands are diversified and the financial transparency is emphasized. The purpose of this study is to compare hospitals management based on Dupont Identity, by various hospital classification. Methodology: This study is based on '2016 Statistics for Hospital Management' provided by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute. The hospitals were classified according to the scope of care, the type of establishment, the location, and the number of beds. We analyzed the general and financial characteristics of over 337 hospitals using the method of Dupont Identity. Findings: Net profit margin (PM) has the biggest impact on return of equity (ROE). By the number of beds, general hospital with 160-299 beds have the highest return on equity (ROE). By location, hospitals in local municipalities have higher return on equity than hospitals in urban municipalities. According to the type of establishment, public hospitals have lower business performance, and although they invest more than private hospitals. Practical Implications: This study can inspire interest and provide understanding in hospital management and financial structure, by analyzing through an intuitive indicator named Dupont identity. It is possible to provide basic data for hospital management methods for each financial elements, in order to increase the profitability of hospitals.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.553-559
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• 2015

Research on micro-level assessment of the changes of socio-economic status following health interventions is very scarce. The use of household asset data to determine wealth indices is a common procedure for estimating socio-economic position in resource poor settings. In such settings information about income is usually lacking, and the collection of individual consumption or expenditure data would require in-depth interviews, posing a considerable risk of bias. In this study, we determined the socio-economic status of 213 households in a community population in an island in the north-western Tanzania before and 3 year after implementation of a participatory hygiene and sanitation transformation (PHAST) intervention to control schistosomiasis and intestinal worm infections. We constructed a household 'wealth index' based housing construction features (e.g., type of roof, walls, and floor) and durable assets ownership (e.g., bicycle, radio, etc.). We employed principal components analysis and classified households into wealth quintiles. The study revealed that asset variables with positive factor scores were associated with higher socio-economic status, whereas asset variables with negative factor scores were associated with lower socio-economic status. Overall, households which were rated as the poorest and very poor were on the decrease, whereas those rated as poor, less poor, and the least poor were on the increase after PHAST intervention. This decrease/increase was significant. The median shifted from -0.4376677 to 0.5001073, and the mean from -0.2605787 (SD; 2.005688) to 0.2605787 (SD; 1.831199). The difference in socio-economic status of the people between the 2 phases was highly statistically significant (P<0.001). We argue that finding of this study should be treated with caution as there were other interventions to control schistosomiasis and intestinal worm infections which were running concurrently on Kome Island apart from PHAST intervention.