• Health Policy and Management
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.31-58
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• 1995

The Korean government achieved the universal coverage of health insurance in July 1989, and concomitantly introduced a new measure of regulated health care delivery system in using medical care. There are three reasons why the government took the new health care delivery system. Firstly, there was ample room for improving the allocative efficiency in the use of medical facilities. And the second one was to constrain the dramatic increase of medical demand under health insurance. Thirdly, and the most important reason was to alleviate the patient crowdedness in big general hospitals, particularly tertiary hospitals. There are essentially two different ways to control the use of health care : one is to cut the demand for health care, and the other to regulate behaviors of providers through the use of incentives/disincentives, demand-side approach or supply-side approach. The objective of this study is to examine whether or not medical care utilization behaviors under health insurance scheme have been changed among medical facilities such as clinic, hospital, general hospital and tertiary hospital in comparison with those before and after the introduction, particularly whether the patient crowdedness in tertiary hospitals has been alleviated or not. In order to conduct this study, the insurance claim data during the period of January 1989 and July 1992 were analyzed by focusing on diagnosis of both inpatients and outpatients, and especially the fifteen most frequent diseases in ambulatory care and the seven most frequent diseases in hospitalizatio. In addition, the same analyses were made on the changes in medical care utilization by specialty department. This was because the five departments, such as family medicine, ENT, eye, dermatology and rehabilitation, were exempted from applying the regulated health care delivery system in tertiary hospitals. The study revealed that a remarkable alleviation effect in the crowdness was noted for tertiary hospitals. This effect was most conspicuous for the most frequent mild diseases of both inpatient and outpatient care. For example, the fifteen most frequent OPD care at tertiary facilities have decreased as much as by 40%, of which 34% belonged to the cut in initial visits. Meanwhile, the proportion of those who used general hospitals and private practitioner's clinics have increased due to the shift of patients. The cases from the five special departments were also decreased, but not so much as other departments. A problem was noted that, as time passed by, the decreasing tendencies of crowdness at tertiary hospitals due to the regulated system became slightly smaller. Therefore, through complementary remedies are needed for the future implementation.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.120-139
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• 1999

The objectives of this study were to examine the utilization patterns of oriental medical care and to discover problems in its delivery. The data for this study were collected from a questionnaire survey mailed out from March 10 to April 9 1999 to 6.346 oriental medical clinic. The questionnaires were then distributed to two patients in each clinics. Of these questionnaires. 670 were completed and returned. The major statistical methods used for the analysis were the t-test. ANOVA, and x$^2$-test. The major findings are as follows: 1. Respondents reported visiting oriental doctors twice as often as they visited western doctors(All those completing the survey received the questionnaire at oriental medical clinics). 2. The number of reported visits to oriental physicians according to among gender, age, marital status, education, income and residence. Males, married respondents, the elderly and the residents of rural areas visited oriental physicians more frequently than females, singles, younger respondents and urbanites. Those people belonging to the middle income class and middle education level also more frequently visited oriental physicians. 3. There are several factors that restrict the utilization of oriental medical care, such as the limitation of the scientific diagnostic instrument use commonplace reliance upon western medical techniques, and the perception of high price for oriental medical care. It is very important to focus oriental medical care onto the fields of acupuncture, circulatory system disease, musculoskeletal system ailments, etc. to improve the utilization of oriental medical care. Other policies for the improvement of oriental medical care include the standardization of price, quality and quantity of oriental medicine.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.128-138
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• 2017

Background: The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of differential coinsurance policy on prescription drug coverage of outpatients by types of medical institutions. Methods: In this study, we used a sample cohort database of the National Health Insurance Service and frequency analysis and marginal logistic regression model using generalized estimating equation were used for statistical analysis. Results: The summary on the major research is followed. First, about 16% of patients who used only tertiary or general hospital due to 52 ambulatory care sensitive conditions before policy implementation moved to hospitals and clinics. However, about 57% of them still use tertiary or general hospital. Second, the factors influencing the utilization of hospitals and clinics after the implementation of the policy were gender, age, and income level. As a result, the policy is effective to reduce the medical use of outpatient mental patients in tertiary or general hospital, but the effect is not significant. Conclusion: Therefore, in order to achieve the purpose of the policy for establishing the health care delivery system, it is necessary to adjust the co-payment so as to feel the burden on the co-payment when the outpatient for 52 ambulatory care sensitive conditions is used at the tertiary or general hospital.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.435-445
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• 2017

This study was conducted to overcome the limitations of prior research on the equity of medical care performed by identifying simple differences in the use of medical care or using limited medical needs and medical utilization indicators. Specifically, we used activity limits, chronic diseases, and subjective health status as medical needs, and used outpatient, inpatient, and emergency services as medical uses. In addition, we used concentration index, concentration curve, and Le Grand factor to analyze the equity of medical use considering medical needs. The main results are as follows. First, the amount of medical care for the low-income class is higher than that of the high-income class when considering the concentration of medical use. In particular, the number of hospitalization days for low-income households and hospitalization fees were higher than the fees of outpatient medical consultation and emergency room usage. Second, medical needs were concentrated in the low income class. In other words, low-income group is not as healthy as the high-income group. Third, the Le Grand factor was calculated in order to confirm the fairness of the medical uses considering the medical needs. Even if medical needs are taken into consideration, the high-income earners will have a large amount of medical care. In addition, when considering the limitation of activity and the number of chronic diseases, the medical use of the high income class was more frequent. However, when the subjective health condition and the chronic illness were considered, medical use of the low income class was more frequent. This may be due to the underestimation of the medical needs of the low-income earners by neglecting their own health status and perception of chronic diseases.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.97-108
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• 2011

Objective: This study aimed to analyze the utilization of Oriental medical services and its determinants among the elderly. Method: Data from a Korean longitudinal study of aging was used. Regression analysis was used to find the determinants of the utilization of medical care. Results: People with low education and low income were more likely to use Oriental medical services. Determinants of using Oriental health service were sex, marriage, income, subjective health condition, activity restriction due to pain, and chronic disease. Among them, only subjective health condition and activity restriction due to pain were significant determinants of frequency of and expenditure on Oriental medical services. Especially, activity restriction due to pain was a significant factor in the use of Oriental medical services, but not in the use of Western medical services. Conclusion: Treatment related to pain was closely associated with Oriental medical services. These treatments need to be developed with scientific and clinical evidence.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.387-396
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• 2013

Background: The purpose of this study was to analyze the association between areas of Korea Train Express (KTX) region and external medical service use in Korean society using spatial statistical model. Methods: The data which was used in this study was extracted from 2011 regional health care utilization statistics and health insurance key statistics from National Health Insurance Corporation. A total spatial units of 229 districts (si-gun-gu) were included in this study and spatial area was all parts of the country excepted Jeju, Ulleungdo island. We conducted Kruskal-Wallis test, correlation, Moran's I and hot-spot analysis. And after, ordinary linear regression, spatial lag, spatial error analysis was performed in order to find factors which were associated with external medical service use. The data was processed by SAS ver. 9.1 and Geoda095i (windows). Results: Moran's I of health insurance patients' external medical service use was 0.644. Also, population density, Seoul region, doctor factors positively associated with health insurance patients' external medical service. In contrast, average age, health care organization per 100 thousand were negatively associated with health insurance patients' external medical service use. Conclusion: The finding of this study suggested that health insurance patient's external medical service use correlated for seoul region in korea. The study results imply the need for more attention medical needs in the region (si-gun-gu unit) for health insurance patients of seoul region. It is important to adapt strategy to activation of primary health care as well as enhancing public health institution for prevent leakage of patients to other areas.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.21-39
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• 2013

Purpose : The purpose of this study is to provide the basic data to improve pre-hospital phase emergency care for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients by analyzing AMI patients' clinical characteristics and emergency care situations. Methods : Data were collected through medical records of 385 AMI patients including ambulance records of 107 AMI patients transferred to the emergency medical center for three and a half years. Results : Regarding emergency care for AMI patients in pre-hospital phase, 47% of the care revealed moderate level or higher, and appropriateness of pre-hospital phase emergency care for cardiopulmonary complaints practiced by paramedics showed statistically significant improvement in recent years (p<.001). The time from onset of symptom to ballooning intervention by 119 emergency services was shorter than that in other cases. However, emergency care by paramedic was mainly basic life support. Conclusion : Since prognosis of AMI shows vast differences depending on prompt detection and medical intervention, cooperation between pre-hospital and in-hospital phase is highly required. 119 paramedics should be trained focusing on the accurate assessment and emergency care, and medical direction should be activated. In addition, regulation on 12-lead EKG, cardiac enzyme analysis, use of analgesics and thrombolytic agents should be legally implemented.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.159-169
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• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of case management for patients with hypertension on their health status and medical service utilization. Methods: This study was a secondary analysis of data collected for a larger study of chronic disease management in 2008 using the National Health Insurance Corporation database. A total of 12,944 patients who received case management for hypertension were included in this analysis. The subjects of case management were classified into subgroups, namely, over-use, under-use, and non-use groups according to the amount of medical service utilization. To compare the medical service utilization, a control group was selected randomly. The data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, McNemar test, and ANOVA. Results: All the subgroups displayed significant differences in blood pressure, self-management, social support, and their characteristics of medical service utilization. The total medical expense of the under-use and non-use groups increased after case management. However, there was no decrease in the medical expense of the over-use group. Conclusion: This finding suggests that there is a need to re-examine why patients overuse medical services and to supplement specific strategies for encouraging appropriate medical service utilization, and enhancing case management efforts for the over-use group.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.25 no.1 s.37
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• pp.53-63
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• 1992

There are increasing interest and need for information on health care consumer with the significance of hospital marketing and strategic planning being increasingly emphasized. This study was conducted to investigate the criteria for selection of medical facilities according to the characteristics of health care consumer by the types of medical services on a sample of 1,500 population aged 20 years and above. Major findings are as follows ; 1. When considering the criteria for selection of medical facilities into two factors, namely, quality or convenience factors, convenience factor was the major contributor for outpatient and dental services whereas it was quality factor for inpatient services. 2. Females and those residing in large cities selected medical facilities based on convenience factor in the outpatient services. In the case of inpatient service, persons who considered their present health status to be good and whose ages were 50 years old and above choose medical facilities based on quality factor. 3. Persons who considered medical facilities to be profit-making tended to choose medical facilities based on convenience factor for outpatient services. There were no differences in the cases of inpatient and dental services. 4. There was no significant difference on the criteria for selection of medical facilities according to the decision maker for selection or trust on medical facilities. On the use of health service information, selection of medical facilities was based on quality factor for those who made more use of the information in the cases of outpatient and dental services. 5. Analysis using the logistic regression model on the criteria for the selection of medical facilities with the characteristics of health care consumer as independent variables was performed. The selection of medical facilities was significantly related with residential area, sex, and use of information on medical facilities for outpatient services and with age, average monthly income, and perception of health status for inpatient services. For dental services significant association with residential area and use of information on medical facilities was seen. The results of this study, despite some limitations, can be used as baseline data for marketing and strategic planning of hospital management.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.125-148
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• 2011

Although the patient's problem with access to health information has been improved due to rapidly developing information technologies, such as the internet, some patients still do not have enough ability to understand, interpret, and analyze the health information. Given this view on the patient's asymmetric information problem, if a doctor provides sufficient effort to help patients understand and interpret medical information, the efficiency of patient's medical care use could be improved. This paper shows firstly that the patient's inefficient use of medical care originates from his information problems, such as the misperception of the effectiveness of medical care and secondly suggests that if the doctor makes sufficient effort to correct patient's information problems, the inefficiency can be ameliorated. This paper also suggests the manipulation of a doctor's payment method can lead a doctor to provide optimal level of efforts which can in turn lead patients to use the optimal level of medical care. With an optimal level of effort, a doctor can more easily achieve a patient's compliance with the newly recommended amount of medical care.