• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.244-252
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to investigate the overall operations of National Hospital Food service after it was benefited by National Health Insurance (NHI). The survey was conducted between July and August, 2007. Among questionnaires mailed to 2,558 medical care institutions, 2,090 returned (81%) questionnaires were analyzed by descriptive statistics, $x^2$-test and ANOVA using the SPSS 13.0. The general foodservice characteristic of medical care institutions were as follows. The type of foodservice operations were 'self-operated' (86.9%), 'contracted' (10.5%) and 'Both' (2.6%). Only 6.4% of medical care institutions provided 'hospital food menu not benefited by NHI'. The number of dietitians and cook for medical care institutions were 1.1 and 1.0, respectively. The cost of a general diet meal was 4,205 won and therapeutic diet meal was 4,434 won. The overall operations of hospital foodservice were different depending on the types of medical care institution. After hospital foodservice was benefited by NHI, the overall quality of hospital foodservice including manpower, facilities, and environment was improved. The future direction of hospital foodservice should 1) differentiate the cost of hospital foodservice by the types of medical care institution, 2) increase in co-payment, and 3) provide same service with equal expenses in each party as medical aid or NHS beneficiary.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.396-404
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• 2008

This study aimed to evaluate the amount of patients' satisfaction with hospital foodservices among those who were benefited from national health insurance during their hospitalization. A total of 3,094 inpatients from 191 medical institutions were enrolled in this survey. The survey was carried out from July 23 to September 14, 2007 through the face-to-face interview method. All analyses were made using the SPSS software (version 13.0). The mean age of the participants was 53.3 years, 57.0% were women; 34.7% were high-school graduates. Among the respondents, 30.9% stayed in the hospital for $7{\sim}14$ days long, and 52.0% were hospitalized in multi-patient rooms for six persons. The 87.7% of total population had a general diet, and 9.6% selected the food menu that was notcovered by health insurance. In addition, 38.3% of patients regarded the fee of foodservice as inexpensive. Overall, the satisfaction score with hospital foodservice was 3.63 on a Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (extremely dissatisfied) to 5 (extremely satisfied). However, the limitations were indicated including the lack of providing nutritional information and quality of taste. In conclusion, the quality of hospital foodservice might not deteriorate even after enforcement of national payment of medical insurance. Further efforts are required for the diversification of menus and legislative work for improving quality of food service for a successful hospital foodservice policy.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.33-43
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• 2000

Environmental pressures from such sources an economic condition, the government and inter-institutional competition create managerial challenges. Economic pressures may be forcing dietetic dept, in hospital to utilize cost∙benefit analysis to assist them in their problem solving. Cost∙benefit analysis have been widely used in business, industry and many other fields with only limited application to foodservice. Due to the lack or this information the purposes of this study were to identify use of cost∙benefit analysis in hospital foodservice system to evaluate the economic efficiency of alternatives, and to make recommendation for operation system change. Using the cost∙benefit method, cash flows are separated into cost and benefits. For an alternative to be selected, indicators, such as NPV, benefit-cost ratio (B/C ratio) with 5% discount rate per annum. The sensitivity analysis was also conducted with difference rate 3%, 7% respectively and reduced employee payroll change. The result of this study can be summarized as follows : 1. The total cost of investment for operation system change was 390,570 thousand won and the total benefit through operation system change was 865,808 thousand won. 2. Net present value(NPV) for 5 years was 475,239 thousand won and benefit-cost ratio was 2.22. 3. In sensitivity analysis with different discount rate 3%, 7%, benefit-cost ratio was 2.25, 2.18 respectively, with total reduced employee payroll change, benefit-cost ratio was 2.86. In conclusion, total benefits were exceeded total costs. Therefore, the project of operation system change in hospital foodservice was found to be economically efficient.