• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.1132-1139
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• 2008

The structure of medical profession is composed of multiple relations among state, patients, and medical professions. There are conflicts between the nation and medical professions because the nation controls the monopoly of medical professions through medical policies. Patients make relations with medical profession as medical consumers. And medical professions compete each other in order to gain the control of the medical market. This paper attempts to review the dynamic relations between the nation and medical professions. The medical professions and the nation are in conflict about the control of the autonomy of medical professions. The medical professions want to exercise the monopoly rights in their own area and, on the other had, the nation wants to prevent problems that might result from the monopoly by regulations and to have the control over the national operation. Given this, the common view of medical sociology is that the nation and the medical professions are in constant conflict. The arguments that the present medical sociology has on the relationship between the nation and medical professions can be summarized like these: first, the nation is the authenticator of medical system; second, the nation is a medical provider and consumer; and, third, the nation is a mediator of regulations and conflicts. Based on the above mentioned relations between the nation and medical professions, this paper attempts to see how the nation, which is one component of the medical structure, make influences on Korean Oriental doctors and Traditional Chinese doctors. So as to do this, the changes in medical policies and promoting policies for Korean Oriental medicine and Traditional Chinese medicine are analyzed. Finally, the differences in national policies of Korean Oriental medicine and Traditional Chinese medicine are compared.

• The Journal of Korean Medical History
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.51-72
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• 2023

IM Won-jun(任元濬, 1423~1500) was an Confucianism Doctor in the former period of Joseon Dynasty. Through IM Won-jun's historical trace we could know the range of Uiseoseubdoggwan(Medical Learning Officer)'s duty not limited to study medical books at that time but extended to medical treat, educate, recommend medical policy, personnel manage, carry out administrative work, carry out all the works concerned with medical books, make new medicines at different official period. Among these after learning duties the Royal Family of the Joseon Dynasty awarded high grades to medical treatment for king and king's mother, but from the viewpoint of advancement of medicine controling the top of medical policy as a chief of Jeonuigam had important meaning. The system of Uiseoseubdoggwan(Medical Learning Officer) in the Joseon Dynasty played the role of cultivating widely the man of ability who leaded medical development by sharing the man of ability between medicine and confucianism which was dominant learning at that time, so the knowledge and professional skill of medicine, Yin-Yang and the Five Elements theory, the spirit of relief of the world were spreaded across to national administration, education, publication culture, putting philosophy of filial piety into practice in the Joseon Dynasty.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.265-269
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• 2020

Korea has failed to respond to the Middle East respiratory syndrome of 2015 and the early phase of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) of 2020. This is due to the structural problems of the Ministry of Health and Welfare that has been more increased manpower and budgets of the welfare part relative to those of the health part, and the ministers were appointed welfare experts, not health experts. In 21 (56.8%) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, the Ministry of Health operates independently, and these countries have been relatively well coping with COVID-19. The importance of the Korean health sector is increasing even further. Korea faces on the emerging infectious diseases, chronic infectious diseases such as tuberculosis that has been being a huge burden, and rapidly increasing non-communicable diseases, suicide and mental disorders, and some diseases due to fine dust and climate change. In addition, the rapid advancement of the aging society, the entry of an era of ultra-low fertility and low-economic growth, and the unification of the Korean peninsula are calling for a health policy reform. Therefore, the Ministry of Health should be established and systematically responsible for health policy, disease policy, medical policy, and medical security policy. Ministry of Health will be the control tower for K-Disease Control, K-Bio, and K-Health.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.17-25
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• 2012

Objectives: This study was conducted to explore the contemporary perception of traditional Korean medical doctors (TKMDs) on traditional Korean medicine (TKM) policies and issues. Methods: A questionnaire that included traditional medicine policy- and treatment-related issues was sent to 130 TKM medical centers and 4,300 TKM local clinical offices in Korea, and received responses from total 648 TKMDs in 122 TKM medical centers and 465 TKM local clinical offices. Results: Of the responding TKMDs, 40% believed that unification of Western and traditional medicines would benefit both modes of medical treatment, 67.6% were against allowing Chinese doctor certification to be effective in Korea through the Korea-China FTA (Free Trade Agreement), and 57.8% believed that the number of TKMDs should be reduced. We also found that 46.1% of TKMDs believed that more lectures on Western medicine would be needed in schools of TKM. Moreover, 87.5% of respondents regarded medical knowledge as necessary for treatment, and 49.4% believed National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Traditional Medicine (NCCAOM) would be not necessary. TKMDs regarded governmental efforts as more vital than education in schools or individual efforts for enhancement of the traditional medical care market in Korea. To efficiently provide the advantages of complementary CAM, such as cost and safety, detailed research is required when policy is made. Conclusions: The TKM industry must implement policies how the relationship with Western medicine can be better defined under the current dual medical system. On the issue of human resources, more research will be needed on the current policy, which serves to maintain the status quo by blocking the importation of Chinese practitioners and by reducing the number of new practitioners.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.460-466
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• 2020

Background: The purpose of this study is to analyze whether there is a change in patterns of medical use among those likely to be converted their health insurance qualifications when the family support rule is alleviated. There is no empirical analysis that converting health insurance qualification will affect the increase in medical use. Methods: For analysis, data were extracted from the national health insurance eligibility and medical care database. To identify analysis targets similar to that of medical aids' characteristics among health insurance coverage, we compared income, property level, and medical use patterns through basic statistical analysis and used a difference-in-difference (DID) analysis to estimate the net effect of changes in medical use following the change of qualifications. Results: The main results are as follows. The results show that those who are under the 5% income group (1st income group) of health insurance coverage are the most similar to the medical aids group. DID analysis shows that changes in the medical use of people who maintain their national insurance qualification and who are not. As a results, the number of hospitalized days of converting group was reduced by 3.5 days while outpatient days were increased by 1.8 days. Conclusion: As a result, there was not much difference in the patterns of medical use for the under 5% income group who are likely to be eligible for expanded medical aids when the family support rule is alleviated. In addition, more than 30% of them are in arrears with their health insurance premiums, causing inconvenience in using medical services. These findings suggest the need of abolishing the criteria obligated to support family, and great efforts should be made to contribute to non-paid poor and remove their medical blind spot.

• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.327-327
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• 2005

• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.179-180
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• 2000

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.328-334
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• 2021

Background: This study was conducted to investigate factors related to unmet medical needs of medical care in adult diabetes patients and to suggest factors related to unmet medical in Korea. Methods: This study used data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHNES) 2014-2017. The subjects of the study were conducted on patients with unmet medical needs experience among the patients and analyzed using the IBM SPSS ver. 25.0 program (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Results: Overall, 10.9% of patients had unmet medical needs. Being female, less educated, and lower medical aid were related to unmet medical needs. And subjects with poor subjective health and higher stress level were more likely to report unmet medical needs. Conclusion: Although comprehensive health insurance coverage, 10.9% of people with diabetes experienced unmet healthcare needs. The results of this study suggest that socioeconomic factors such as low education and medical aid were associated with unmet medical needs.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.195-196
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• 2018

The Korean Academy of Health Policy and Management (KAHPM) has shown remarkable achievements in the field of health policy and management in Korea for the last 30 years. The KAHPM consists of experts in various fields of health policy and management, and has been the leading academic discussion forum for health policy agendas of interest to the public. Health Policy and Management (HPM), the official journal of the KAHPM, published the first issue of volume 1 in October, 1991 and is publishing the second issue of volume 28 as of 2018. Currently, it is one of Korea' main journals in the field of health policy and management. HPM has published a special issue in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the KAHPM. The HPM invited authors, including former presidents of the KAHPM and current board members, to write about main issues in health policy and management. Although the HPM tried to set up an invited author on all subjects in the health policy and management field, 19 papers are published, that completed the peer review process by August, 2018. The authors of the special issue of the 30th anniversary of the KAHPM include six former presidents, a senior professor, and 12 board members. The subjects of this issue are reform of the healthcare delivery system, health insurance and medical policy, reform of health system governance, the role of National Health Insurance Service (NHIS), the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA) and the National Evidence-based healthcare Collaborating Agency (NECA), ethical aspects of health policy change, regional disparities of healthcare, healthcare accreditation, new healthcare technology evaluation system, globalization of the healthcare industry, the epidemiological investigator system, the quarantine system, safety and disaster, and official development assistance. There are some remaining topics to deal with for the KAHPM: aged society, anti-smoking, non-infectious disease, suicide, healthcare resources, emergency medical care, out-of-pocket money, medical fee payment system, medical aid system, long-term care insurance, industrial accident compensation insurance, community-centered health welfare system, and central government and local government of health. The HPM will continue to publish review articles on the main topics in health policy and management. This is because the KAHPM, which has been the leading academic society of Korea's health policy and management for the last 30 years, feels responsible for continuing its mission for the next 30 years.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.1-15
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• 2005

The aim of this study was to compare medical cost of hospice care and that of conventional care during the last year of life, and identify factors that influenced the cost. From January to August 2003 592 terminal cancer patients receiving care from 5 hospice care units and 2 hospice care teams in general hospitals were enrolled to case group. Two hundreds and seventy two terminal cancer patients receiving conventional care from 7 general hospitals were enrolled to hospital-based control group, and 1,636 terminal cancer patients from 122 general hospitals located in same regions with the 7 hospitals were enrolled to community-based control. We used characteristics and medical cost from data of National Health Insurance Cooperation. Total medical cost per beneficiary in cases was about 10 millions won, 14.5 millions in hospital-based controls and 11.1 millions in community-based controls. The hospice care saved $45\%$ over the last year of life compared with hospital-based controls (p<0.0001). Saving of inpatient cost account for approximately $80\%$ of saving per beneficiary. Hospice care saved $29\%$ of medical cost per hospitalization day compared with hospital­based controls and $17\%$ compared with community-based controls (p<0.0001). Multiple regression analyses showed that hospice care significantly saved the medical cost. This study suggest that hospice care save medical cost compared with hospital-based control and community-based control. Most of saving of inpatient cost account for approximately $80\%$ of saving of medical cost.