• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.127-138
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• 2014

Purpose: The objectives of this study were to analyze the state of hospital-based home care (HC) services annually and to provide basic information for research and policy regarding home care. Methods: This study is a secondary analysis of the yearly state of HC services from the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Services from 2007 to 2012. Results: The decreased by 34.6%, from 214 agencies in 2007 to 140 in 2012. The annual average number of active home care nurses was 440, which included 6.7% of the licensed home care nurses until 2012. The annual average number of HC patients were 32,000, and this number decreased by 21% in 2012, compared to that of 2008. Of the HC patients, about 70% were over 60 years of age. The chronic diseases among HC patients have been decreasing steadily since 2007. Seventy to eighty percent of the home visits were made in general hospitals or higher level hospitals. The total medical cost for HC services was 21 billion won in 2007, which consisted of 0.06% of the national medical costs, and it was 22 billion won and 0.03% in 2012. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, further research on HC services is necessary to frame policies for the expansion of HC agencies.

• Journal of Digital Contents Society
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.417-424
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• 2015

The research of occupational injury for safety and health is a comparatively recent occurrence. As labor activities took place regarding to employee concerns in industrial uprising, human resources health was tried to enhanced as a labor safety subject. Noticing that traditional statistics approach has limitations in learning future forecasting and major factors causing occupational injuries in each industry, Korean Government initiated a quantitative systematic simulation model project to analyze how the annual injury rate has been dropped and stays in a level for recent years. From this motivation and the project, system dynamics models have been developed to explain the mechanisms for reducing annual injury rate, and the mechanisms quantitatively. The main cause effects for the reduction of annual injury rate were due to the government driven investment on safety facilities. In overall viewpoint the gain achievable from these efforts has been reached a saturated level. However, it could reduce the annual injury rate if you chose the industry and size carefully. The model for forecasting, major injury factors, safety budget and allocation are introduced and analyzed, and Analyzing occupational injury related factors can also reduce employee injury and disease related costs, including medical care, quit, and disability assistance costs.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.81-113
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• 2009

This study conducted a regulatory impact analysis regarding the introduction of the Korean version of REACH(Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals). The direct cost of the Korean REACH is estimated at a total of 101 billion Korean won over the 11 year period. The cost includes pre-registration, testing, registration, Chemical Safety Assessment(CSA) and Chemical Safety Report(CSR), evaluation, and the authorization costs of 15,223 chemical substances produced and imported more than 1 ton per year in Korea in 2006. With regard to the benefit, the only public health benefit is included in the estimation. Based on the available foreign and domestic data, this study estimated that the economic values of public health benefits are in the range of 33.2~138.6 billion Korean won if only the savings of the National Health Expenditures are considered and it reaches 203.9~1,640.3 billion Korean won if the willingness to pay(WTP) for disease prevention is included. This study proved that the Korean REACH passed the cost/benefit criteria. The benefit-cost ratio of the Korean REACH, however, is estimated to be lower than its EU counterpart. Thus it is suggested that a rigorous study to reduce the costs to industry be required before the Korean government introduces the Korean REACH.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.37-55
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• 2012

Objectives : This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of fixed critical pathway with emr (electronic medical record) on the length of hospital stay, the cost and quality of care provided to gastrectomy patients in a university hospital and to develop flexible critical pathway with emr which can be used excluded or drop-out patients. Methods : Thirty-eight patients with gastrectomy were included as case group and Thirty-four patients included as control group. The comparison between control and case with using fixed critical pathway were done. To develop and to evaluate usefulness of flexible critical pathway with flexible data base, simulation was done for flexible critical pathway with drop-out patients. Result : The major results of this study were as follows: There were no significant differences in patient clinical conditions and no sign of deterioration of quality from critical pathway. The length of hospital stay was 11 days in control group, 8 days in path group(P<0.01). The total costs during the hospital stay were reduced in path group. However the cost per day was significantly increased from reduction of hospital stay(554,352 won in control, 645,669 won in path group). One hundred percentage of drop out patients(60) in the simulation of flexible critical pathway was successful. Conclusion : Computerized critical pathway reduced the length of hospital stay, total hospital costs and resource utilization without harming quality of patient care. The flexible critical pathway program can be used as one of the powerful management tools for reducing the practice variations and increasing the efficiency of care process and decreasing the workload of doctors and nurses in Korean hospital settings.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.22 no.3 s.27
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• pp.380-388
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• 1989

To evaluate the costs of the hypertension screening program of the Korea Medical Insurance Corporation, the records of the screening examinations were used. The sample size was 49,983 of the 906,554 people insured by the Corporation and was obtained by two-stage stratification random sampling. The alternatives for efficiency of the screening program, which were divided into three categories : modification of the screening test package, application of other hypertension diagnostic criteria, and selective approach of tested groups by age, were evaluated according to the cost per patient detected. The results of this study were as follows In the hypertension screening system, the cost per patient detected was Won 30,883. The most nonsensitive test for hypertension detection was ophthalmoscopy, which was examined during the second stage of screening. If the ophthalmoscope examination was excluded, olny one person was not detected, which was 0.2% of detected persons, and the cost per patient detected decreased to Won 28,098. The most efficient modification of the screening test package was measurement of blood pressure through the first and second stages of screening. The cost per patient detected by this modification was Won 24,408. The application of other diagnostic critera, which were more restricted criteria, increased the cost per patient detected by 3.7%-6.7%. The cost per patient detected were Won 170,582 for persons less than 39 years old, Won 20,032 for persons 40 to 59 years old, and Won 8,675 for persons 60 years old and over. In conclusion, the best alternative suggested with respect to efficiency and practical application excluded the ophthalmoscope examination of second stage screening and restricted the target population to persons greater than 40 years old. The application of this alternative decreased 54.9% of the screening costs and the cost per patient detected was Won 15,222. This study was limited in that measurement of effectivenes was not of the ultimate goal of screening, which is decreasing morbidity and mortality, but was of disease detection as the short-term objective.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2019

Purpose: The goal was to use electronic health records to identify factors and outcomes associated with falls among patients admitted to hematology units. Methods: This retrospective case-control study included data from a tertiary university hospital. Analysis was done of records from 117 patients with a history of falls and 201 patients with no history of falls who were admitted to the hematology unit from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2014. Risk factors were analyzed using hierarchical logistic regression; patient outcomes were analyzed using multiple logistic regression, Cox proportional hazards regression, and multiple linear regression. Results: Clinical factors such as self-care nursing (OR=4.47, CI=1.64~12.11), leukopenia (OR=6.03; CI=2.51~14.50), and hypoalbuminemia (OR=2.79, CI=1.31~5.96); treatment factors such as use of narcotics (OR=2.06, CI=1.01~4.19), antipsychotics (OR=3.05, CI=1.20~7.75), and steroids (OR=4.51, CI=1.92~10.58); and patient factors such as low education (OR=3.16, CI=1.44~6.94) were significant risk factors. Falls were also associated with increased length of hospital stay to 21.58 days (p<.001), and healthcare costs of 17,052,784 Won (p<.001). Conclusion: These findings can be a resource for fall prevention education and to help develop fall risk assessment tools for adults admitted to hematology units.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.107-122
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• 1994

Many alternatives have been discussed to reduce the medical expenditure and to use the medical resources effectively. Many studies about the economies of scale have been done for the last several decades. This study has analyzed the relationship between the number of beds and the mean expense per hospitalization day in Korea. A Cost Function Model was identified and we wanted to see the minimum optimal size with the cheapest mean expense per hospitalization day. The result is as follows; 1. In the Cost Function Mode, (the number of beds)$^{2}$, the number of personnel, productivity and training institutions are the factors that statisticaly influence the mean expenses. 2. By the univariate analysis the mean expense proved to be the smallest as the level of 150-200bed, The breaked down of the components of expenses shows that the mean labor cost is much different from the mean value of material and administration costs, and that hospital with 150-200 beds also have the minimal expense. The mean expense goes up dramatically in hospitals of 450 beds or more. 3. When the other conditions are constant, according to the multiple regression analysis of the mean expense per adjusted hospitalization day the minimum optimal size with the cheapest expense is a hospital with 191 beds and the hospital with 230 beds takes the lowest mean labor cost. The material or administration costs are not influenced by hospital size. This research has limitation in measuring the variables that influence hospital xpenses, in estimating hospital output by the number of beds in considering outpatient cost and in securing representativeness of hospitals because many hospitals made no responses to the research questionnare. But it is valuable and helpful for development of health policy to figure out the number of beds with the cheapest expense per hospitalization day.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.151-165
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• 1997

A cost analysis for hospitalized patients was performed based on the KDRG classification in order to determine an appropriate nursing fee under the PPS(Prospective Payment System). The data was collected from 20 nursing units of three tertiary hospitals and two secondary hospitals from August 26 to September 15, 1996. The study consisted of 148 inpatients diagnosed for lens procedures(KDRG 03900), tonsillectomy &/or adenoidectomy(KDRG 16100), Cesarean section(KDRG 37000), or vaginal delivery(KDRG 37300) without any complications. The direct or indirect nursing hours of each patients were measured. Then, direct or indirect nursing expenditures of four nursing units, operating room and delivery room were computed. Finally, the resources used including average total nursing hours, average length of stay and average nursing cost of each KDRG were estimated as follows; 1) The average total nursing hours were 640 minutes for lens procedures, 403 minutes for tonsillectomy &/or adenoidectomy, 934 minutes for appendectomy with complicated principal diagnosis, 1,094 minutes for Cesarean section and 631 minutes for vaginal delivery. Significant differences were found in average total nursing hours among hospitals. 2) The average length of stay in lens procedures were 5 days, 4 days for tonsillectomy &/or adenoidectomy, 6 days for appendectomy with complicated principal diagnosis, 8 days for Cesarean section and 3 days for vaginal delivery. All results were within normal determined by the Ministry of Health and Welfare although significant differences existed among hospitals, especially with average length of stay for leng procedures between tertiary hospitals and secondary hospitals which was greater than for those of others. 3) The average nursing cost were 87,146 Won for lens procedures, 69,600 Won for tonsillectomy &/or adenoidectomy, 128,337 Won for appendectomy with complicated principal diagnosis, 151,769 Won for Cesarean section and 85,403 Won for vaginal delivery. These costs were 7.6%, 13.0%, 13.0%, 16.0% and 22.0%, respectively, of the official price fixed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare under the prospective payment system. Research for the analysis of nursing costs according to the severity of illness for those KDRGs shoud be carried out within the period of the PPS pilot project. In addition, a proper nursing fee schedule for a new reimbursement system based upon the result of the above research should be prepared in the near future.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.139-171
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• 2018

The 「Act on Remedies for Injuries from Medical Malpractice and Mediation of Medical Disputes」(hereinafter referred to as 'the Act on Mediation of Medical Disputes') provides that the state should compensate the victims of medical accidents occurred irresistibly in childbirth despite that health and medical service personnel fulfilled their duty of care for their damage within the range of its budget(Article 46 of the Act on Mediation of Medical Disputes). Given that victims of medical accidents could expect demage recovery only through lawsuits thus far, this act can be said to be a groundbreaking act. However, However, as 30% of the costs for such medical accident compensation projects are borne by those who have records of childbirth among the founders of health and medical institutions (Article 21 of the Act on Mediation of Medical Disputes), there has been a question about whether doctors are held responsible despite that the accidents such as the deaths of mothers and newborn babies occurred irresistibly without doctors' fault. However, recently, the Constitutional Court ruled that 'the range of founders of health and medical institutions' and 'share ratios of finances for compensation' in Article 46 (3) of the Act on Mediation of Medical Disputes' related to the imposition of the share of costs are institutional (Constitutional Court ruling dated April 26, 2018, 2015Heonga13, hereinafter referred to as 'the ruling in the case'). Although the ruling in the case was made based on only the principle of statutory reservation and the principle of ban on comprehensive authorization, this paper added a practical judgment. This paper proved that the share of costs in this case has the nature of burden charges in pursuit of study and does not infringe on the property rights of the founders of health medical institutions even in light of the principle of proportionality because there is a legitimate reason for imposing the burden charge. The imposition of the share of costs in the system for compensation for medical accidents occurred irresistibly is against the principle of liability with fault in part. However, the medical accident compensation projects are rational a national policy for the victims of medical accidents and the medical world clearly gains some benefits from the effect to terminate medical disputes. The expansion of finances for compensation through the payments of the share of costs will reduce the suffering and misunderstanding of victims of medical accidents occurred in the process of childbirth and will be very helpful to the construction of stable treatment environments of medical workers by quickly establishing the medical accident compensation projects as such.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.78-86
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• 2024

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the specialty hospital system by comparing the medical use of inpatients who had artificial joint replacement surgery in specialty hospitals and non-specialty hospitals. Methods: This study utilized 2021-2022 healthcare benefit claims data provided by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. The dependent variable is inpatient medical use which is measured in terms of charges per case and length of stay. The independent variable was whether the hospital was designated as a specialty hospital, and the control variables were patient-level variables (age, gender, insurer type, surgery type, and Charlson comorbidity index) and medical institution-level variables (establishment type, classification, location, number of orthopedic surgeons, and number of nurses). Results: The results of the multiple regression analysis between charges per case and whether a hospital is designated as a specialty hospital showed a statistically significant negative relationship between charges per case and whether a hospital is designated as a specialty hospital. This suggests a significant low in charges per case when a hospital is designated as a specialty hospital compared to a non-specialty hospital, indicating that there is a difference in medical use outcomes between specialty hospitals and non-specialty hospitals inpatients. Conclusion: The practical implications of this study are as follows. First, the criteria for designating specialty hospitals should be alleviated. In our study, the results show that specialty hospitals have significantly lower per-case costs than non-specialty hospitals. Despite the cost-effectiveness of specialty hospitals, the high barriers to be designated for specialty hospitals have gathered the specialty hospitals in metropolitan and major cities. To address the regional imbalance of specialty hospitals, it is believed that ease the criteria for designating specialty hospitals in non-metropolitan areas, such as introducing "semi-specialty hospitals (tentative name)," will lead to a reduction in health disparities between regions and reduce medical costs. Second, it is necessary to determine the appropriateness of the size of hospitals' medical staff. The study found that the number of orthopedic surgeons and nurses varied in charges per case. Therefore, it is believed that appropriately allocating hospital medical staff can maximize the cost-effectiveness of medical services and ultimately reduce medical costs.