• 의료법학
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• 제13권2호
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• pp.45-72
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• 2012

The National Health Insurance Corporation has been retrieving from health care providers the payments made to them by insured patients as a result of the health care providers' arbitrary denial of coverage under the National Health Insurance, and has been disbursing such retrieved monies back to the patients, pursuant to Article 57, Sections 1 and 4 of the National Health Insurance Act. However, such practice is an application of the law that lacks legal exactitude. Another problem with such practice is that there is no legal provision under any laws or notices that expressly prohibits arbitrary denial of coverage. A legislative solution, therefore, is called for to address these issues.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제31권3호
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• pp.471-480
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• 1998

This study was undertaken in order to estimate the accuracy of disease code of the Korean National Medical Insurance Data and disease the characteristics related to the accuracy. To accomplish these objectives, 2,431 cases coded as notifiable acute communicable diseases (NACD) were randomly selected from 1994 National Medical Insurance data file and family medicine specialists reviewed the medical records to confirm the diagnostic accuracy and investigate the related factors. Major findings obtained from this study are as follows : 1. The accuracy rate of disease code of NACD in National Medical Insurance data was very low, 10.1% (95% C.I. : 8.8-11.4). 2. The reasons of inaccuracy in disease code were 1) claiming process related administrative error by physician and non-physician personnel in medical institutions (41.0%), 2) input error of claims data by key punchers of National Medical Insurer (31.3%) and 3) diagnostic error by physicians (21.7%). 3. Characteristics significantly related with lowering the accuracy of disease code were location and level of the medical institutions in multiple logistic regression analysis. Medical institutions in Seoul showed lower accuracy than those in Kyonngi, and so did general hospitals, hospitals and clinics than tertiary hospitals. Physician related characteristics significantly lowering disease code accuracy of insurance data were sex, age group and specialty. Male physicians showed significantly lower accuracy than female physicians; thirties and fortieg age group also showed significantly lower accuracy than twenties, and so did general physicians and other specialists than internal medicine/pediatric specialists. This study strongly suggests that a series of policies like 1) establishment of peer review organization of National Medical Insurance data, 2) prompt nation-wide expansion of computerized claiming network of National Medical Insurance and 3) establishment and distribution of objective diagnostic criteria to physicians are necessary to set up a national disease surveillance system utilizing National Medical Insurance claims data.

• 한국병원경영학회지
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• 제10권2호
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• pp.45-63
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• 2005

The purposes of this study are to understand the doctors' attitude and satisfaction about the review system of national health insurance claim in Korea and to suggest the way to improve this system This study conducted a survey of the doctors registered in the medical association in Seoul city. The survey was performed as a form of self-administered questionnaire from January 2004 to February 2004. The contents of questionnaire dealt with doctors' attitude and satisfaction about the review system of medical service claim. Totally, 1,037 members replied to our survey and we analysed 981 doctors' data, excluding incomplete responses. As a result, 89.7% of repliers showed a negative attitude about the influences of the review system on improvement of medical service quality, 98.0% of repliers have had experiences that they have given distorted insufficient medical services in order to evade the curtailment of service claim. Also, 91.6% of repliers stated that they have had experiences of intentional modification or alteration of diagnostic code to shun the curtailment. Most of the doctors showed negative attitude to the curtailment procedure and the review system of service claim originally intended to be one of the quality control methods of medical service in Korea also, the development of both scientific and reasonable parameters and criteria for claim is needed. 'Through the improvement of review system for appropriate medical service, there is a need of a way to increase the satisfaction of medical service providers, and to encourage the motivation for quality control. Also, education is strongly needed to provide doctors with sufficient information about review criteria and curtailment cases.

• 보건행정학회지
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• 제31권3호
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• pp.344-354
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• 2021

Background: The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of national health insurance coverage of Chuna therapy in April 2019 on the costs and service uses in automobile insurance. Methods: This study used the claim data from Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. A total of 189,912 inpatients and 1,550,497 outpatients who received Chuna therapy covered by automobile insurance in oriental medical institutions were included. The analysis period was from July 2018 to December 2019, and a total of 18 months before and after April 2019, when Chuna therapy was covered by national health insurance. Interrupted time series analysis was applied to analyze the impact on the costs and service uses of Chuna therapy in automobile insurance before and after April 2019. Results: From July 2018 to December 2019, for 189,912 inpatients the cost and the number of times for Chuna therapy per capita were increased by 22.0% and decreased by 7.3% respectively right after the implementation of the policy. In the case of 1,550,497 outpatients, the cost of Chuna therapy per capita tends to be increased by 0.4% in overall study periods and increased 28.4% immediately after the implementation of the policy. Meanwhile, the number of times and visits for Chuna therapy per capita tends to be increased by 0.4% in overall study periods but decreased by 0.4% after the implementation of the policy. Conclusion: Results suggest that if the national health insurance coverage of oriental medicine services increases according to the policy stance for benefit expansion in national health insurance, the criteria for providing national health insurance benefits should be considered with the comprehensive impacts on the costs and service uses of automobile insurance.

• 의료법학
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.131-157
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• 2015

국민건강보험공단은 의사가 요양급여기준을 위반하여 처방을 함으로써 국민건강보험공단이 약국에 약제비를 지급하게 된 것은 의사가 국민건강보험공단에 대해 민사상 불법행위를 한 것이라고 주장하며 손해배상청구를 하였다. 대법원이 이를 인정하는 판결이 잇따르자, 국민건강보험공단은 의사들이 의료법을 위반하여 진료를 하여 약국에 지급하게 된 약제비나 해당 의료기관에 지급하게 된 요양급여비용에 대해서도 모두 국민건강보험공단에 대한 민법상 불법행위라고 주장하며 손해배상을 청구하였으며, 대법원은 이를 모두 인정하였다. 그러나 우리나라 국민건강보험제도에서 보험급여의 주체는 국민건강보험공단이며, 환자가 의료기관에 진료를 요청하여 의료기관이 행하는 요양급여 역시 보험급여이므로 이러한 요양급여를 행하는 주체 역시 국민건강보험공단이다. 그리고 국민건강보험법은 의사의 의료법위반행위를 규제하기 위해 만든 법이 아니므로 의사의 의료법 위반행위를 국민건강보험공단에 대한 민법상 불법행위책임에서의 위법성으로 포섭할 수 없다. 그렇다면 환자가 보건복지부장관으로부터 부여 받은 면허를 가진 의사에 의해 요양급여기준에 맞는 진료를 받은 경우에는 국민건강보험공단은 민법상 환자에게 요양급여를 해 줄 의무를 면하는 이득을 얻었으므로 설사 해당 의사가 진료를 하는 과정에 의료법을 위반한 행위를 하였더라도 국민건강보험공단으로서는 손해가 없다. 대법원이 의료법위반으로 진료를 한 행위를 모두 국민건강보험공단에 대한 민법상 불법행위책임으로 인정하는 것은 국민건강보험공단이 보험급여의 주체로서 보험급여를 해 줄 의무를 면하였다는 이득은 고려하지 않고, 오로지 의사에게 요양급여비용을 지급하였다는 측면만을 고려한 것으로서 민법 제750조의 법리에 어긋난다. 의사가 의료법을 위반하였다면 의료법에 따라 제재를 받을 일이지, 국민건강보험법으로 규율할 일이 아니며, 대법원이 위와 같이 판결한 것은 국민건강보험법의 법리와 민법의 법리를 혼동한 탓으로 생각된다.

• 보건행정학회지
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• 제30권3호
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• pp.409-417
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• 2020

Background: It is well known that the distribution of therapeutic materials is very complex. However, it is not easy to demonstrate the concrete problems caused by distribution channels empirically. The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in the price of therapeutic materials according to the type of purchasing agency and the way in which medical institutions purchase therapeutic materials. Methods: This study compared the claimed prices and the maximum allowable prices for the items of therapeutic material used for general spinal surgery. Results: Ilsan Hospital, which purchased directly without a purchasing agent, had the lowest claimed prices, followed by a large professional purchasing agency, a foundation-related purchasing agency, and a general purchasing agency. In addition, the difference between the claimed prices and the maximum allowable prices according to the purchase type was larger in the expensive treatment materials, and in the case of the lower price treatment materials, it tended to converge to the maximum allowable prices. Conclusion: National health insurance spending for therapeutic materials are to be affected by the distribution channels of them. We proposed several ideas to rationalize the expenditure such as classification of therapeutic materials on the basis of price or other criteria.

• 보건행정학회지
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• 제20권4호
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• pp.45-57
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• 2010

Background : If different cost efficiency indexes were informed to the same clinic depending on the inclusion or exclusion of pharmacy cost, it may impair the reliability of provider-profiling system. This study aimed to investigate whether the omission of pharmacy cost affects cost-efficiency rankings in medical clinics. Methods : Data for ambulatory care cost at 23,112 medical clinics were collected from the claims database, which was constructed after review by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) of Korea in April 2007. We calculated two types of cost efficiency indexes by inclusion or exclusion of pharmacy cost for a medical clinic. The agreement between the decile rankings of the two indexes was also assessed using the weighted kappa statistic of Landis and Koch. Results : When the cost efficiency index for total cost including pharmacy cost was compared with the index for total cost excluding it, the agreement between the two indexes was only 55%. The agreements between the two indexes were relatively low within specialties which have larger pharmacy volume of total cost and lower correlation between total cost with or without pharmacy cost included than the average level of all the specialties. Conclusion : These results suggest that the omission of pharmacy cost may result in contradictory outcomes that may be confusing to a medical institution and may impair the reliability of provider-profiling systems. It is very important to standardize profiling criteria for the reliability of provider profiling system.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• 제57권3호
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• pp.174-177
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• 2015

Objective : For improving the drawbacks of previous thoracolumbar spine trauma classification, the Spine Trauma Study Group was developed new classification, Thoracolumbar Injury Classification and Severity Score (TLICS). The simplicity of this scoring system makes it useful clinical application. However, considering criteria of Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA), the usefulness of TLICS system is still controversial in the treatment decision of thoracolumbar spine injury. Methods : Total 100 patients, who admitted to our hospital due to acute traumatic thoracolumbar injury, were enrolled. In 45, surgical treatment was performed and surgical treatment was decided following the criteria of HIRA in all patients. With assessing of TLICS score and Denis's classification, the treatment guidelines of TLICS and Denis's classification were applied to the criteria of Korean HIRA. Results : According to the Denis's three-column spine system, numbers of patients with 2 or 3 column injuries were 94. Only 45 of 94 patients (47.9%) with middle column injury fulfilled the criteria of HIRA. According to TLICS system, operation required fractures (score>4) were 31 and all patients except one fulfilled the criteria of HIRA. Conservative treatment required fractures (score<4) were 52 and borderline fracture (score=4) were 17. Conclusion : The TLICS system is very useful system for decision of surgical indication in acute traumatic thoracolumbar injury. However, the decision of treatment in TLICS score 4 should be carefully considered. Furthermore, definite criteria of posterior ligamentous complex (PLC) injury may be necessary because the differentiation of PLC injury between TLICS score 2 and 3 is very difficult.

• 보건행정학회지
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• 제12권3호
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• pp.23-35
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• 2002

Fiscal crisis in the medical insurance system has put the pressure upon hospitals by increasing the rate of curtailment, since the implementation of the separation of prescription and dispensing of medicine. The purpose of this study is to analyse the curtailment of mdical and drug expenditure before and after the system of separation between prescribing and dispensing and to suggest the problems about current inspection system. Data were obtained from 13 general hospitals and used for analysis of trends on medical & drug expenditure, and curtailment in 1999-2000 at three months intervals. The results were as follows; The scale of curtailment for drug expenditure has been increased on outpatient and inpatient since 2000. For the curtailed drug cost with outpatient, the ratio of curtailed drug expenditure has been increased in the case of prescription within the hospital. These results suggest that review system in social insurance were over-focused to control the cost and it might to impede the validity of review function in insurance system. Therefore, it' s needed to develope the scientific and reasonable criteria for Inspection and evaluation of durg expenditure.

• 보건행정학회지
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• 제16권1호
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• pp.73-94
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• 2006

This study was carried out to show how the Analytic Hierarchy Process technique could be used in setting the priority among selected diseases to increase the range of health insurance benefit. Thirty experts, including doctors (group1), experts for preventive medicine or public health(group2), and representatives of the insured(group 3), participated in the study panel that is conducted for priority setting. They were asked to evaluate the priorities among 6 selected criteria and then 42 selected diseases. The results were as follows; First, representatives of the insured think that the magnitude of out-of-pocket payment should have high priority while doctors think that effectiveness of treatment should have high priority. Second, all experts think that catastrophic diseases such as malignant neoplasm, major heart disease, and cerebral vascular disease should have high priority in health insurance coverage even though there is little difference among groups. These results can be useful to establish a systematic strategy for expanding health insurance benefit package.