• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.268-277
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• 2010

This study was conducted to analyze the cost-utility of ramosetron monotherapy, trimebutine monotherapy and trimebutine+loperamide combination therapy in male diarrhea-predominant patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in Korean healthcare setting. We constructed a decision-analytical model to estimate both total costs for each state of health and outcomes such as IBS-symptoms improvement for 3 and 6 months time horizon. Base analysis found that for ramosetron treatment with the price of KW910 for 5 ${\mu}g$ tablet, incremental cost effectiveness ratios (ICERs, cost per quality-adjusted life day) were KW85,000 and KW62,000 for 3 months and 6 months, respectively, compared with trimebutine. But ramosetron was a dominant strategy when compared with trimebutine+loperamide for both 3 months and 6 months. Sensitivity analyses showed robust results for drug acquisition costs till ramosetron price of KW950/tablet. In conclusion, ramosetron was a cost-effective regimen compared with trimebutine or trimebutine+loperamide from the societal perspective.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.183-192
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• 1996

This paper presents a numerical model of the optimal operation pattern of the CHP system built for duel-purpose of power generation and district heat production. The model can be differently formulated in accordance with the view of planner: society, electric utility or district-heating company. Here, the operation pattern of the system components and the effect of heat price are of major interest in the study. From the case study, it was found that the optimal use of auxiliary heating equipment is very important to achieve the minimum societal cost. And, the multi-step heat pricing scheme is desirable to induce the voluntary behavior of both companies towards the societal optimal pattern.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.352-361
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• 2010

Objectives: This study estimated the annual socioeconomic costs of food-borne disease in 2008 from a societal perspective and using a cost-of-illness method. Methods: Our model employed a comprehensive set of diagnostic disease codes to define food-borne diseases with using the Korea National Health Insurance (KNHI) reimbursement data. This study classified the food borne illness as three types of symptoms according to the severity of the illness: mild, moderate, severe. In addition to the traditional method of assessing the cost-of-illness, the study included measures to account for the lost quality of life. We estimated the cost of the lost quality of life using quality-adjusted life years and a visual analog scale. The direct cost included medical and medication costs, and the non-medical costs included transportation costs, caregiver's cost and administration costs. The lost productivity costs included lost workdays due to illness and lost earnings due to premature death. Results: The study found the estimated annual socioeconomic costs of food-borne disease in 2008 were 954.9 billion won (735.3 billion won-996.9 billion won). The medical cost was 73.4 -76.8% of the cost, the lost productivity cost was 22.6% and the cost of the lost quality of life was 26.0%. Conclusions: Most of the cost-of-illness studies are known to have underestimated the actual socioeconomic costs of the subjects, and these studies excluded many important social costs, such as the value of pain, suffering and functional disability. The study addressed the uncertainty related to estimating the socioeconomic costs of food-borne disease as well as the updated cost estimates. Our estimates could contribute to develop and evaluate policies for food-borne disease.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.28-37
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• 2008

Objectives: Overactive bladder(OAB), defined as 'urgency, with or without urge incontinence, usually with frequency and nocturia', is a major burden for patients and impairs quality of life. The aim of this study is to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of antimuscarinic agents for the treatment of overactive bladder including quality of life in societal perspective. Methods: A decision-analysis model was developed to compare the cost-effectiveness of solifenacin and tolterodine IR over 12 weeks. We used data from the published literature to develop the framework for the model. Resource utilization and costs were calculated with public institutional data and supplemented this information with clinical expert opinion, where necessary. Results: The expected costs per patient for solifenacin were 48,762 KRW less expensive than tolterodine IR over 12 weeks. Also, all outcomes including quality of life for solifenacin were more effective than tolterodine IR over 12 weeks. In conclusion, solifenacin dominates tolterodine IR and appears to be cost-effective options for the management of overactive bladder.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.54-83
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• 2002

Korea's recent attempt to separate prescription and dispensation of pharmaceuticals suffers serious, negative side effects. The interned-based prescription delivery system is being considered a supportive tool to alleviate such side effects. This paper conducts an economic evaluation of the system. We consider all possible types of pecuniary costs and benefits, from societal perspective, to conclude that nationwide adoption of the system would raise net social benefits by 5,892 billion won for the coming five years. Specifically, the net benefits would be distributed among consumers (5,667 billion won), pharmacies (216 billion won) and medical institutions (8 billion won). Net social benefits would be far mere enhanced by deregulation policies, such as removal of restrictions on electronic type prescription and home-delivery of dispensed drugs.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.72-75
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• 2011

Sleep disorders such as insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and restless legs syndrome (RLS) are very common disorders and may cause significant burden in terms of individual as well as societal aspects. Sleep insufficiency from such sleep disorders may cause deleterious effects on daily work life and may be associated with other major medical or psychiatric disorders including cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, depression, and anxiety disorder. Various motor or occupational accident may result from the sleep problems. In addition, recent researches provide the method to evaluate the lost productivity time in terms of absenteeism and presenteeism. Moreover, several studies on cost-effectiveness of treatment of sleep disorders show that it is cost-effective.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.291-300
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• 2012

Objectives: We aimed to estimate the annual socioeconomic burden of coronary heart disease (CHD) in Korea in 2005, using the National Health Insurance (NHI) claims data. Methods: A prevalence-based, top-down, cost-of-treatment method was used to assess the direct and indirect costs of CHD (International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision codes of I20-I25), angina pectoris (I20), and myocardial infarction (MI, I21-I23) from a societal perspective. Results: Estimated national spending on CHD in 2005 was $2.52 billion. The majority of the spending was attributable to medical costs (53.3%), followed by productivity loss due to morbidity and premature death (33.6%), transportation (8.1%), and informal caregiver costs (4.9%). While medical cost was the predominant cost attribute in treating angina (74.3% of the total cost), premature death was the largest cost attribute for patients with MI (66.9%). Annual per-capita cost of treating MI, excluding premature death cost, was $3183, which is about 2 times higher than the cost for angina ($1556). Conclusions: The total insurance-covered medical cost ($1.13 billion) of CHD accounted for approximately 6.02% of the total annual NHI expenditure. These findings suggest that the current burden of CHD on society is tremendous and that more effective prevention strategies are required in Korea.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.2317-2322
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• 2015

Background: Despite the increasing number of screening examinations performed for cervical cancer utilizing the Papanicolaou smear test (Pap test), few studies have examined whether this strategy is cost-effective in Korea. Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of cervical cancer screening strategies incorporating the Pap test based on age at the start and end of screening as well as screening interval. Materials and Methods: We designed four alternative screening strategies based on patient age when screening was started (20 or 30 years) and discontinued (lifetime, 79 years). Each strategy was assessed at screening intervals of 1, 2, 3, or 5 years. A Markov model was developed to determine the cost-effectiveness of the 16 possible cervical cancer screening strategies, and this was evaluated from a societal perspective. The main outcome measures were average lifetime cost, incremental quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). Results: Compared with various strategies comprising younger starting age, discontinuation age, and longer screening intervals, strategies employing annual screening for cervical cancer starting at a target age of 30 years and above were the most cost-effective, with an ICER of 21,012.98 dollars per QALY gained (with a Korean threshold of 30,000,000 KRW or US$27,272). Conclusions: We found that annual screening for cervical cancer beginning at a target age of 30 years and above is most cost-effective screening strategy. Considering the potential economic advantages, more intense screening policies for cervical cancer might be favorable among countries with high rates of cervical cancer and relatively low screening costs.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.7-16
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• 2013

As workplace incidents has been being declining in Korea, there is criticism of the effectiveness of occupational safety policy implementation. It is unknown that which policy target group needs to be targeted to yield effective injuries prevention. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and reveal the policy intervention group with a high priority in terms of industrial incident prevention and the related investment cost. A Policy Priority Model(PPM) is composed of 6 indicators regarding influences of both the incident reduction and the cost reduction. Z-score analyses are used to confirm the high policy priority area or policy target group. Overall, workplace with worker below 50 persons, construction site with the sales of more than a hundred million won, workplace with relatively small percentage of female employees and relatively higher percentage of older worker should be prioritized to reduce workplace injuries. This paper provides an analytic way that can be used to decide the policy priority workplace in order not only to reduce work-related injuries&illnesses and the related investment cost but to further lessen the related societal costs.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.278-287
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• 2010

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of tafluprost compared with latanoprost in primry open Angle Glaucoma (POAG) or ocular hypertension OH patients in Korea. A decision analytic model was developed from a societal perspective to estimate clinical outcome, drug cost and glaucoma related cost. The model assumes branch like following: successful treatment, switching to other drug, adding other drug, laser or surgery. Treatment success rate is defined as the percentage of patients with elevated IOP achieving <20% reduction, and discontinuation rate is the percentage of patients who were withdrawn due to severe adverse events. A model that is comprised of 1 month cycle length has 1 year. Treatment success rate and discontinuation rate were obtained from published literatures searched in database. Resource utilizations and costs were calculated with national health insurance data and clinical expert opinions. Sensitivity analyses were performed on crucial parameters. Tafluprost is less costly than latanoprost, $609.0 vs $651.2 expected cost. Thus tafluprost was shown to be dominant compared with latanoprost. The results of sensitivity analysis revealed stable across most of the included parameters. According to this study, tafluprost shows more clinical outcome for 1 year than latanoprost. In addition, first-line treatment of tafluprost is a more cost-minimizing strategy associated with POAG or OH compared with latanoprost.