• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.44-57
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• 2017

The objective of this study is to investigate financial integrity strategies for sustainable development of local public medical centers, and particularly focus on seeking ways to enhance its financial efficiency and publicness. The data which was collected from 33 local public medical centers was analyzed by Data Envelopment Analysis to measure its financial efficiency. Then, Matrix Analysis was used to examine the association of financial efficiency and publicness of local public medical centers with related factors. In the aspects of facilities and location, according to the results, the local public medical centers which have larger number of available hospital beds or located in bigger cities were examined to have higher degree of publicness. In the aspect of human resources, greater number of doctors made both financial efficiency and the degree of publicness decreased, whereas higher participation rate of educational program for doctors affects increasing its financial efficiency and publicness. Lastly, in the aspect of costs, higher labor, material, and administrative cost diminished financial efficiency, but enhanced the degree of publicness. Based on these results, this study concluded that enhancing the publicness of local public medical centers should be pursued by increasing the accessibility with better facilities and location, and also concurrently organizing rational expenditure structure with appropriate cost investment to the resources of local public medical centers. Also, it is necessary to enhance both financial efficiency and publicness simultaneously by improving the quality of health care services through the educational programs for medical staffs.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.123-139
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• 2009

This study examines the relative efficiency of 34 local public medical centers in Korea. In order to concretely grasp the causes of inefficiency and suggest improvement solutions, the desirable set point was established based on the actual value which needs to be improved. As a result of analysis, we determined that output must be increased while input is held constant in order to improve effectiveness through the actual value and set point. Efficiency cannot be achieved if input is augmented solely to increase output. Also, to increase output, the medical centers need to improve their quality without increasing any input for customer visits and hospitalizations. Further, in order to strategically promote effectiveness and efficiency of local public medical centers, these medical centers must focus on input resource and patient interchange through the mutual cooperation with local private hospitals and university medical centers.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.393-407
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to analysis relative efficiency and efficiency in process of time. Thus we use panel data of 34 local public medical centers between 2003 and 2005 to use DEA and Malmquist analysis. The result of our this study is as flow; first, The results of static efficiency of 34 local public medical centers show 10 CCR model and 23 BCC model which is difference of efficiency by economic of scale. Second, a cause of increased efficiency is not only change of technology but also change of efficiency to management system index show between 2003 and 2005 by Malmquist analysis and contracting-out is higher than direct management between 2004 and 2005. That means efficiency of local public medical centers is their own effort and innovation not government subsidies.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.349-364
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• 2011

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between new-building of rural public health centers and the outpatient medical utilization. Methods : The study subjects were 141 public health centers in rural area. The data were collected from 1995 to 2001, medical utilization and local population, healthcare resources, and economic characteristics were included. In order to evaluate new-building effects, we performed paired t-tests and multivariate regression analyses. Results : The following variables are significant affecting the medical utilization of rural public health centers: urban side location of public health centers(p<0.05), pre- and post-IMF economic crisis(p<0.001), number of medical aid recipients(p<0.01), number of private clinics(p<0.05), workers of public health centers(p<0.001), financial independent level of local governments(p<0.001). In contrast, the existence of new-building and number of the aged 65 and over were not significant variables. Conclusions : We could not find out the positive relationship between the existence of new-building and the volume of medical utilization in rural public health centers. In particular the medical utilization of rural public health centers is significantly affected by IMF economic recession and number of the poor strata, the economically depressed area.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.3-13
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• 2022

Health centers provided intensive health care services for local residents according to changes in the times and environment. Public health centers were given various roles such as medical treatment, administration, and service, and the demand for functional reorganization has emerged. We analyzed the literature on the functional restructuring of public health care institutions. In addition, the current status of medical services, which is the main function of institutions, will be analyzed through health insurance statistical data, and detailed contents will be analyzed according to regional types and income levels. As a result of the analysis of medical services at institutions, the total number of patients was 2,238,000, and the number of visits was 11,806 times. Total medical expenses were 169.6 billion won, of which 132 billion won was found to be benefit. When analyzing the number of patients per institution, public health centers had the largest number of 4,326, and the share of benefit was also the highest at public health centers. It should focus on the function of providing local health and medical services related to health promotion and disease prevention in the community. This functional reorganization of public health centers can contribute to forming cooperative relationships with private medical institutions in the local community. For this, first, to establish the role, essential functions for public health centers for preventive health management are established. Secondly, regular manpower expansion and flexible manpower management are required in the human resources sector. Finally, in the organizational sector, it is necessary to establish a step-by-step organizational system according to environmental changes.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.329-336
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• 2021

This study selected indicators that can represent the characteristics of general hospitals, including local medical centers and Red Cross hospitals, which are representative public health institutions, and analyzed clusters. And we present to benchmark in each cluster. According to the analysis, 276 general hospitals were classified into 13 clusters, and local medical centers and Red Cross hospitals were classified into clusters between 1 and 7 of the total 13 clusters because of their small size. Local medical centers and Red Cross hospitals, selected as excellent hospitals in each cluster, showed significant differences in management performance despite similar regional environment and medical performance, and among them, surgical consultation and internal medical care rates, inpatient and outpatient rates. In order for local medical centers and Red Cross hospitals to play their role as secondary acute hospitals in the region, inpatient care services and surgical functions must be activated.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.11-18
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• 2019

The purpose of this research is to introduce the best practice of the Japanese national dementia strategy and explore implications to the Korean national dementia strategy. Interview was conducted among professions those who is in charge of Kumamoto dementia care practice in Kumamoto province, upon review of related literature and public documents. The Kumamoto model is implemented by the department of neuropsychiatry in public university hospitals, which can offer dementia-specialized medical services. Medical centers for dementia in public university hospitals play a leading role for managing practice and training local dementia centers specialist, coordinating medical services among medical institutions and community welfare facilities. In reference to the Kumamoto model, the Korean national dementia strategy can find implications in the direction of current system, specifically its approaches toward policy governance.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.74-84
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• 2018

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to compare the perceptions of the rural healthcare service improvement project' performance and reorganization of public health centers between project staffs and local residents. Methods: Data collection from this study was performed in 141 project areas using structured questionnaires. Data analysis was used in SPSS 22.0 version. Results: The public health center staffs were more positive about the items for improving health facilities than the local residents. Residents in the Si area generally perceived performance as more positive than residents in the Gun area, while public health center staffs in the Gun area perceived performance as more positive than public health center staffs in the Si area. Local residents expressed negative opinions about the reduction in the number of branches of public health clinics and health medical clinics. Conclusions: In conclusion, careful improvement projects for rural health care and the establishment of health care systems will be necessary, reflecting the opinions of local residents, along with a variety of regional characteristics.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.455-464
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• 2020

Objectives: The distribution of hospitals in Korea is unbalanced in terms of accessibility. Many local public health centers (PHCs) exempt out-of-pocket payments (OOPs) based on local government laws to increase coverage. However, this varies across administrative regions, as many make this exemption for the elderly, while others do not. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of the OOP exemption at local PHCs among elderly individuals. Methods: This study used online data on Korean national law to gather information on individual local governments' regulations regarding OOP exemptions. Individual-level data were gathered from the 2018 Community Health Survey and regional-level data from public online sources. Results: The study analyzed 132 regions and 44 918 elderly people. A statistical analysis of rate differences and 2-level multiple logistic regression were carried out. The rate difference according to whether elderly individuals resided in areas with the OOP exemption was 1.97%p (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.07 to 2.88) for PHC utilization, 1.37%p (95% CI, 0.67 to 2.08) for hypertension treatment, and 2.19%p (95% CI, 0.63 to 3.74) for diabetes treatment. The regression analysis showed that OOP exemption had an effect on hypertension treatment, with a fixed-effect odds ratio of 1.25 (95% CI, 1.05 to 1.48). Conclusions: The OOP exemption at PHCs can affect medical utilization in Korea, especially for hypertension treatment. The OOP exemption should be expanded to improve healthcare utilization in Korea.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.350-360
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• 2010

Objectives: This study was conducted to identify factors that affect medical service performance in rural health sub-centers and to develop a method to improve health sub-center performance that takes advantage of these insights. Methods: This study included 1,242 South Korean health sub-centers that had been in operation at least since December 31, 2009 as units of analysis. After adjusting for population differences between areas, the performance of medical service among health sub-centers was analyzed according to medical services performed per person. We performed t-tests, ANOVA, Scheffe's tests and multiple regression analyses. Results: The following were significant variables affecting the medical service performance of rural health sub-centers: number of hospitals and clinics, presence of community health practitioner posts, distance from health sub-centers to main public health centers, distance from health sub-centers to the nearest emergency medical facilities, and proportion of the local population aged 65 and over. In contrast, the proportion of the local population between ages 0-4 and the placement of public health doctors that had already completed their internship were not significant variables. Conclusions: The medical service performance of health sub-centers located in rural areas is significantly affected by local population and health care environment characteristics, and therefore, it is imperative to develop strategies to provide differentiated service based on these factors.