• Health Policy and Management
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.339-351
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• 2018

Background: The purpose of this study is to estimate empirically whether there is a difference in medical use among income groups, and if so, how much. This study applies econometric model to the most recent year of Korean Medical Panel, 2015. The model consists of outpatient service and inpatient service models. Methods: The probit model is applied to the model which indicate whether or not the medical care has been used. Two step estimation method using maximum likelihood estimation is applied to the models of outpatient visits, hospital days, and outpatient and inpatient out-of-pocket cost models, with disconnected selection problems. Results: The results show that there was the inequality favorable to the low income group in medical care use. However, after controlling basic medical needs, there were no inequities among income groups in the outpatient visit model and the model of probability of inpatient service use. However, there were inequities favorable to the upper income groups in the models of probability of outpatient service use and outpatient out-of-pocket cost and the models of the number of length of stay and inpatient out-of-pocket cost. In particular, it shows clearly how the difference in outpatient service and inpatient service utilizations by income groups when basic medical needs are controlled. Conclusion: This means that the income contributes significantly to the degree of inequality in outpatient and inpatient care services. Therefore, the existence of medical care use difference under the same medical needs among income groups is a problem in terms of equity of medical care use, so great efforts should be made to establish policies to improve equity among income groups.

• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.224-225
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• 2002

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.93-102
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• 2014

Objectives: This study aimed at revising the Korean Out-patient Groups for Korean Medicine (KOPG-OM, version 1.0) based on clinical similarity and resource use, by using the accumulated claims data, and evaluating the validity of the revised classification system. Methods: A clinical specialist panel involving 19 specialists from 8 Korean medicine (KM) specialty areas reviewed the classification tree, diagnosis groups and procedure groups in terms of clinical similarity. Several models of outpatient grouping were formulated, with the validity of each tested based on the $R^2$ coefficient of determination for the treatment costs of all visits. To add age splits, the variances of treatment costs by age groups were also analyzed. These statistical analyses were performed using KM claims data of National Health Insurance from 2010 to 2012. Results: The classification tree designed via panel discussions was used to allocate outpatient cases to 26 diagnosis groups, with cases involving procedures such as acupuncture, moxibustion and cupping, then allocated to 9 procedure groups in each diagnosis group. The cases without procedures were categorized into the visit index - medication group. This process resulted in 298 outpatient groups. The $R^2$ values for treatment costs of all visits ranged from 0.38 to 0.69 depending on the providers' types. Conclusions: The revised model of KOPG-KM has a higher validity for outpatient classification than the current system and can provide better management of the costs of outpatient care in KM.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.13-20
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• 2020

Purposes: This study has the purpose to the improvement of health promotion for local residents through delivery of high-quality medical service by improving imbalance of medical use and seeking an improvement plan for accessibility of effective medical service by understanding the pattern of medical use by region. Methodology: As for the method, this study derived results at the significance level of p<0.05 through chi square test(χ² test) and Generalized Estimating Equation(GEE) SAS 9.4 version by using the data of the 7th Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing 2018. Findings: Study results show that local residents use medical service such as hospitalization care and outpatient visit more as compared to the residents in Gyeonggi-do/large or medium-sized cities. The more the number of chronic disease, the more they select hospitalization care rather than outpatient visit. Results also show that patients engaged in labour tend to select outpatient treatment rather than hospitalization treatment. Meanwhile, severity of disease turned out to be higher amongst medical care beneficiaries than that of national health insurance patients when comparing the types of medical security. Practical Implications: In stead of solving the problem of the difference in medical use by region from the aspect of income and economic level, an integrative solution shall be provided putting viewpoint on the social phenomenon suited to the changes of the times. This study suggests a plan for using a health and medical community care center that acts as a gate keeper of regional medical service.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.298-303
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• 2024

Objectives: The aim of this study was to estimate drug prescription indicators in outpatient services provided at Iran Social Security Organization (SSO) healthcare facilities. Methods: Data on all prescribed drugs for outpatient visits from 2017 to 2018 were extracted from the SSO database. The data were categorized into 4 main subgroups: patient characteristics, provider characteristics, service characteristics, and type of healthcare facility. Logistic regression models were used to detect risk factors for inappropriate drug prescriptions. SPSS and IBM Modeler software were utilized for data analysis. Results: In 2017, approximately 150 981 752 drug items were issued to outpatients referred to SSO healthcare facilities in Iran. The average number of drug items per outpatient prescription was estimated at 3.33. The proportion of prescriptions that included an injection was 17.5%, and the rate of prescriptions that included an antibiotic was 37.5%. Factors such as patient sex and age, provider specialty, type of facility, and time of outpatient visit were associated with the risk of inappropriate prescriptions. Conclusions: In this study, all drug prescription criteria exceeded the recommended limits set by the World Health Organization. To improve the current prescription patterns throughout the country, it would be beneficial to provide providers with monthly and annual reports and to consider implementing some prescription policies for physicians.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.190-196
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• 2017

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of muscle energy techniques (MET) of upper trapezius and sternocleidomastoid muscles on Bell's palsy. Methods: In this retrospective study, we screened the medical records of patients with Bell's palsy who had received inpatient and outpatient treatment at the Department of Acupuncture & Moxibustion, Korean Medicine Hospital Dong-Eui University between November 28, 2016 and April 30, 2017. A total of 34 out of 93 Bell's palsy patients met the inclusion criteria. The 34 patients were divided into two groups: Group A patients had undergone Korean-Western combination treatment and MET of upper trapezius and sternocleidomastoid muscles; Group B patients had undergone Korean-Western combination treatment only. MET of upper trapezius and sternocleidomastoid muscles had been performed three times a week during the inpatient period, and two to three times a week during the outpatient period. Yanagihara scores had been assessed at the first visit, and 1, 2, 3, and 4 weeks after the first visit. Results: Group A Yanagihara scores were significantly improved during each interval from the first visit to 4 weeks later. Group B Yanagihara scores were also significantly improved except during the first week. During every period, the improvements observed in Yanagihara score were significantly higher in Group A than in Group B. Conclusion: These results suggest that MET of upper trapezius and sternocleidomastoid muscles may be effective treatment for Bell's palsy.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.33-51
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• 2007

The disabled population is a vulnerable group, having very complex medical conditions, but little is known about differences in the level of access by type of disability. This study was performed to investigate the differences of health care utilization by the type of disability. The database was constructed from registry of the disabled and health insurance and medical aid claims data submitted to the Korea Health Insurance Cooperation during in the year 2003. The disability classified three groups according to the Disabled Welfare Act; physically disability with external dysfunction, physically disability with organic disease, and mentally disability. There were huge differences in health care utilization by the type of disability. For the inpatient care, those with a mental disability were more likely to utilize health care services in terms of average visit number of medical facilities and visit days per case, but the treatment amount per case was the highest in physically disabled with organic disease. For the outpatient care, those who the physically disabled with organic disease were more likely to utilize health care services in terms of average visit number of medical facilities, treatment amount per case, and the treatment days per case. Also, those who physically disabled with organic disease were more likely to utilize general hospital for both inpatient and outpatient care, and spent more out-of-pocket expenditure. As the number of persons with disabilities rises, the need to consider new approaches to protecting their health grows increasingly. Especially, Korean health care system should be refined to be more responsive to the needs of the type of disability.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.187-197
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• 2013

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of outpatient cost sharing reduction on health care utilization of children under 6 years old. Methods : The data in this analysis was the health insurance claims data between August 2006 and July 2008. The study group was divided into two age groups, namely 0-5 years old and 6-10 years old. This study evaluated the impact of policy change on office visits per person and expenditure per visit. In order to do so, the double difference analysis is used. Results: The results showed that outpatient cost-sharing reduction has never really had a huge impact on office visits per person and expenditure per visit. Conclusions: This study showed that the outpatient cost sharing reduction for children under 6 years old policy is not working. Therefore, cost sharing of National Health Insurance by income class is needed.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.79-93
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• 2005

The purpose of the study is to identify Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions (ACSC) and their potential health insurance applicability in Korea, using the correlation and regression analysis with the empirical data provided by Korean Health Insurance Review Agency(KHIRA). Here, ACSC would be thought of as conditions that when timely and effectively treated in the outpatient medical services can help reduce the risk of hospitalizations. As for ACSC, reducing accessibility for outpatient visit results in increasing hospitalization. In this respect, the ACSC concept is popularly adopted as one of the performance indicators of the national health system. As one of main results, fortifying the accessibility to necessary health care in a way of sharing appropriately the role with private health insurance can lead to the efficiency of national health care delivery systems in view of total health care expense, in particular in a case of ACSC children. Lastly, we would like to strongly suggest that the disease treatment data set reported to KHIRA needs to be opened to private insurance companies only for illness experience investigation.

• Journal of the Regional Association of Architectural Institute of Korea
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.109-116
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• 2019

This study aimed to suggest a quantitative model analyzing overcrowding area under emergency evacuation situation in the outpatient department of hospital. Overall study process included the review on legal conditions of an emergency evacuation, the investigation of precedent research documents and the analysis of spatial configuration. The user movement with considering exit gates and the one without considering exit gates were analyzed for routine activity condition. An agent-based simulation was applied for the analysis. Also, user movement for the emergency condition was tested with evacuation simulation. The variation of simulation conditions revealed the difference between overcrowding spaces from situation change. At all nodes, visit frequencies derived from different conditions and situations were compared. The overcrowding spaces are to increase the risk of delaying emergency evacuation time which is critical for user safety. It suggests the need for dispersing overcrowding spaces under evacuation situation. The suggested analysis model can evaluate overcrowding spaces in the outpatient department of hospital and provide locational data for distributing evacuation design resources.