• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.157-168
• /
• 2001

Currently the oriental medical care services in the health centers is getting popularity because of their unique aspects which western medicine can not cover. This study was conducted to speculate the current status of oriental medical care services in health centers and possibility of how to effectively provide the oriental medical care services(or traditional medical care services) in health centers. For the study, the survey questionnaires were distributed to all 269 health centers and 138(51.3%) of them were collected. Eight of the collected were inadequate for the analysis and 130 of 269 questionnaires were finally chosen for the study. The SPSS/PC WIN 8.0 was used for the statistical analysis. The results are as follows. First, 91 out of 130 sample health centers(70%) are providing oriental medical care services. The results show that the willingness of the directors and the public awareness in community are the most important factors to provide oriental medical care services in health centers. In contrast, the lack of cooperative efforts between western and oriental medical doctors and the lack of government supports are considered as factors that intervene the oriental medical care services in health centers. About 80% of the sample health centers respond that the government supports is needed for oriental medical care services in health centers. Second, it was asked to the directors of 39 health centers which do not provide oriental medical care services regarding their future plan to include the services. About 70% of health centers respond that no plan is available now. They acknowledge that the demand on the services is the most important factor to consider the oriental services as their future medical services. Third, 69.2% of the oriental medical doctors in health centers are public health doctor. 95.6% of the sample health centers have space for the oriental medical care services in their facilities and some health centers provide the services through the private clinics nearby facilities. Finally, the surveyors consider both budgetary constraints and difficulty in recruiting doctors as barriers for the effective oriental medical care services in health centers. Finally, t-test and LSD were employed to find out the difference among several groups. The analysis shows statistically significant difference among groups about their recognition on health care policy, health care system, and effectiveness of oriental medical care services. To be conclude, the study shows the necessity of oriental medical care services in health centers. To do so, the government supports, cooperative efforts between oriental and western medical doctors, and providing job security for doctors should proceed to provide effective oriental medical care services in health centers.

• Korean Medical Education Review
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.3-9
• /
• 2022

The concept of "public health care (public health and medical services)" as discussed in South Korea is used in an unclear sense, with a meaning unlike the terminology used worldwide. The terms "public health care (public health and medical services)" and "health care (health and medical services)" have the same legal definition in Korea. Globally, "public health care (public health and medical services)" refers to medical services provided to the public that are operated as publicly funded resources, but in Korea, this term is confined to limited medical services prescribed by the government. The following considerations regarding "public health care (public health and medical services)" in Korea are proposed: All medical services performed by the state, regional governments, health care institutions, or health care workers to protect and promote the health of the people should be clearly established as "public health care (public health and medical services)" by definition. The financial burden borne by the state through national health insurance should be increased to an appropriate level to clarify the state's responsibility. Improving public health is an urgent priority in Korea, and this goal can be achieved by improving regional public health through systematic relationships between the state and regional governments, establishing a Ministry of Health, and efficiently allocating public health doctors who are important for providing regional medical care in rural and remote areas. It will be possible to actively deal with infectious diseases at the national level through establishment of a Ministry of Disease Control and Prevention.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.17-23
• /
• 2021

With the introduction of national health insurance, the burden of health care costs decreased and choices of medical services widened. However, because of the rapid expansion of non-covered medical services by health insurance, financial security for health care expenditure is still low. This gives patients barriers to choose medical services especially for non-covered medical services, and it becomes narrower. Compared to Korea, Japan has high financial protection in health care utilization, but there exists a limitation using covered and non-covered medical services both together. This is called a prohibition of mixed treatment in health care. This study reviews the Japanese health care system that limits choosing medical services and the burden of health care costs. The prohibition of mixed treatment can alleviate the out-of-pocket burden in the non-benefit sector, but it can be found that it has a huge limitation in that it places restrictions on choices for both healthcare professionals and patients.

• Journal of Korean Academic Society of Home Health Care Nursing
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.49-58
• /
• 2009

Purpose: This study aimed to clarify the needs for hospital-based home care nursing medical services in elder care institutions by analyzing the details and frequency of medical services provided by, and the needs for, hospital based home care nursing in select institutions in Korea. Methods: Seventy-seven staffs at elderly care institutions located throughout the country completed self-report questionnaires between February 1 and May 31, 2009. SPSS ver. 14.0 was used for data analysis regarding frequency and percentage, mean and standard deviation. Results: Forty-eight hospital-based home care nursing medical services in eight domains were identified as being needed in elderly care institutions. The most commonly used medical services were providing instruction in oral drug administration, checking drug beneficial/adverse effects, and administering blood glucose test, while the most needed medical services requiring hospital based home care nursing were complex pressure ulcer care, followed by diabetic foot ulcer management and nutrient injection. Conclusion: The present results should provide fundamental data for better healthcare services with hospital based home care nursing at elderly care institutions as part of a 'win-win' strategy through which medical expenses are reduced, insurance costs are kept stable, and safe and high-quality medical services are provided for residents of elder care institutions. Political decisions intended to promote visits by hospital based home care nurses to elder care institutions would be a prudent course.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.78-88
• /
• 1990

The subject of this study is to review the practical approaches of Home Care Services. Included is a brief overview of its nature, providers of Home Care Services, recent history of Home Care Services, and the impact of the national movement toward cost containment in health care. The data used in this study are obtained from the Elderly Program of the Medical Services and other data on the Home Care Services in Japan. With the growing elderly population in Japan, it is to be expected that the medical care expenditure for this sector will continue to increase. With the aim of keeping expenditure for medical care within reasonable bounds, it is essential that this increasing expenditure on the elderly be used effectively. With the Health and Medical Services Law for the Aged was enforced, therefore, remuneration for medical treatment of the elderly and what is known as the staff placement standard at hospital for the elderly were rationalized. In addition to rationalization from the point of view of medical care supply, it is necessary to guarantee the appropriate treatment within the community and at home for those elderly who are bedridden but not in need of hospital care. For this it is required that Home Care Services, such as health services like visiting guidance by public health nurse in hospital of Health Center. So that the elderly can feel secure in receiving treatment within the community and at home, allowances for guidance on leaving hospital and for intermittent nursing and guidance thereafter are to be newly introduced. Home care Services in one aspect of comprehensive health care, it is comprised of health services provided to individuals and families in their homes. Its purposes include promoting, maintaining and restoring health, specifically maximazing independent functioning and minimizing the disabling effects of illness, including terminal illness. Services appropriate to the needs of clients and their families are planned, coordinated, and delivered by providers organized for the delivery of home health care through the use of contractual arrangement, employed staff, or a combination of the two.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.125-133
• /
• 1991

The medical insurance system has been adopted in rural areas in 1988. Since then, the utilization of medical care services has increased rapidly in rural areas. According to the various study on medical care utilization, the people in rural areas used more curative care services than urban areas. The purpose of this study was to analyze the utilization and expenses of medical care services in designated rural areas : Choonseong Gun, Kangwon Province ; and Soonchang Gun, Cheonbuk province in Korea. Medical care utilization of medical care beneficiaries showed slightly increase, while there was a decrease of 18% and more for the medicaid. Regarding selection of medical care institutions, medical care beneficiaries used more hospitals and clinics than health center networks, but the health center networks was used more by the medicaid. However, the hospitalized Soonchang health center was able to provide more curative care to the people than the other two health centers. More than 50% of the patients treated by hospitalized health center were residents of the place in which health center was located.

• Perspectives in Nursing Science
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.55-65
• /
• 2009

The Korean government introduced Home Care Services System to cut medical cost and make efficient use of limited medical resources because of increasing chronic diseases and the growing population of the elderly. The Korean government established measures to control the use of insurance services by restricting the number of nurse's visits to patient's home and by asking the patients to shoulder the transportation fee of nurses during the visit. Factors such as oversupply of hospital facilities, low price of home care services, high insurance coverage for hospital services and increased nuclear family set up resulted in the limited use of home care nursing services. The introduction of long-term care insurance in 2007 brought the decrease in the number of home care agencies and these agencies are facing a crisis today. The increase in chronic diseases and growing population of the elderly recently resulted in the need to control the high medical cost. Home care services for early discharge patients and chronic-severe disease patients will contribute in the reduction of medical cost at the same time improves the quality of patient's life. To catch up with the demands of the nation, accessibility to home care services should be improved and policies such as the expansion of home care services insurance coverage and promotion of establishing home care agencies should be considered.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.23 no.3 s.31
• /
• pp.285-295
• /
• 1990

The utilization of medical care services has been partly regionalized with the implementation of referral requirement by the government since July 1, 1989 when the health insurance coverage was extended to all the people. For the purpose of regionalization, the whole country has been primarily divided into tertiary care regions, and each of them again into secondary care regions. This study investigates the self-sufficiency for in-patient care services of secondary care regions focusing on why it varies among the regions. In doing so, analysis is performed to examine a model which embodies three sets of hypotheses as follows : 1) The regional self-sufficiency for medical care services would be subject to direct influences of regional characteristics, amount of available services and structural properties of regional medical care system ; 2) The regional characteristics would have indirect effects on the self-sufficiency which are mediated by medical care services ; and 3) The amount of available services would indirectly affect the self-sufficiency by influencing the structure of regional medical care system. The results of analysis were generally consistent with the model. The findings have some practical implications. The regional self-sufficiency for medical care services partly depends upon basic properties of each region which cannot be changed in a short period of time. Thus the self-sufficiency for medical care services can be improved mainly by health policy measures. In some of the regions the self-sufficiency for in-patient care services was much higher or lower than can be predicted from the bed-population ratio. Indication is that the allocation of health resources should be made considering a variety of factors bearing upon the supply of and demand for health care ; not on the basis of just a single criterion like the availability. The self-sufficiency of a certain region is related to not only its own characterstics but also the characteristics of neighboring regions. Therefore, attention should be also directed to the inter-regional relationships in health care when the needs for investment of health resources in a region are assessed. However, it should be noted that this study used the data collected before the referral requirement was imposed. A replication of this analysis using recent data would provide an evaluation of the impact on the self-sufficiency of the referral requirement as well as a confirmation of the findings of this study.

• International journal of advanced smart convergence
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.87-94
• /
• 2019

IoT-based services are being released in accordance with the aging population and the demand for well-being pursuit needs. In addition to medical device companies, companies with ideas ranging from global ICT companies to startup companies are accelerating their market entry. The areas where these services are most commonly applied are health/medical, life/safety, city/energy, automotive and transportation. Furthermore, by expanding IoT technology convergence into the area of life care services, it contributes greatly to the development of service models in the public sector. It also provides an important opportunity for IoT-related companies to open up new markets. By addressing the problems of life care services that are still insufficient. We are providing opportunities to pursue the common interests of both users and workers and improve the quality of life. In order to establish IoT-based digital life care services, it is necessary to develop convergence technologies using cloud computing systems, big data analytics, medical information, and smart healthcare infrastructure.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.143-164
• /
• 2010

Although word-of-mouth (WOM) has been regarded as one of the very important topics in consumer research, its effects on other aspects of consumer behavior have been scarcely investigated in the context of health-care service industry. The WOM literature also suggests that it is essential for medical care service organizations in fierce competition to adopt WOM communication as a competitive weapon so as to be able to stay ahead of competition. The goal of this research was set to empirically study various relationships between antecedent variables, WOM acceptance, and purchase of medical care services. Specifically, drawing on the WOM literature, eight antecedents to WOM acceptance were selected first. Based on the relevant literature, seven sets of hypotheses on the relationships among antecedents to WOM, WOM acceptance, purchase intention and purchase of medical services were developed. Data were collected via an on-line survey. A total of 571 out of 600 responses turned out to be usable. The major findings of this study can be summarized as follows: First, 6 out of 8 antecedent variables to WOM acceptance were found to be positively affect WOM acceptance. However, the effects of (1) "newness of technology" pertaining to medical care service characteristics and (2) "involvement in health", one of receiver characteristics, were found to be insignificant. Second, most moderating effects on the relationship between purchase and purchase intention of medical care services were found to be insignificant with one exception. That is, elapse of time was found to be a marginally significant moderator on the relationship between purchase and purchase intention of medical care services. Third, it was found that the higher the WOM acceptance, the higher the purchase intention of medical care services. Finally, the effect of WOM acceptance was found to be particularly strong when WOM contents were perceived as useful and positive. Overall, it seems essential for hospitals to actively adopt WOM communication as a competitive marketing tool if they plan to improve their business performance. In this respect, the current study may serve to improve the business performance of hospitals by way of providing theoretical and empirical evidence on the effects of WOM communication variables on WOM acceptance and medical care service purchase.