• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.13-28
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• 2020

Purposes: The purpose of this study is to analyze the institutional and personal factors that affect the medical utilization of patients transferred to tertiary medical institutions. Methodology: We retrospectively analyzed the 2 weeks electronic medical records of 1,556 patients, who were referred to the tertiary hospital, from June 15 to 26, 2015. The patient's personal characteristics, referral hospital, referral path, medical experiences and expenses were analyzed for 6 months after the patient's first visit. Findings: The largest proportion (848; 54.5%) of referrals was referred from primary clinic but the referrals of the same tertiary hospital level were one in seven (228; 14.7%) of the patients. Most patients (1,401; 90%) were referred from the clinics and hospitals directly and only one in ten (155; 10%) of the patients utilized the medical referral center. Patients who had been referred from tertiary care institutions had significantly higher medical costs than those referred to primary care (7,560,000 vs 2,333,000 won). The institutional factors including the numbers of visits to outpatient clinic, previous history of hospitalization and operation, consultation to other medical departments and hospitalization fee significantly influenced on medical utility pattern. Personal factors including patient's medical diagnosis and department of disease have a highly correlation with patient's referrals. Practical implications: The medical utilization of medical expenses and experiences is influenced by institutional and individual factors, and it is important to establish a referral system considering the institutional factors of the type of referral hospital.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.81 no.2
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• pp.116-122
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• 2018

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a serious chronic condition with a global impact. Symptoms of COPD include progressive dyspnea, breathlessness, cough, and sputum production, which have a considerable impact on the lives of patients. In addition to the human cost of living with COPD and the resulting death, COPD entails a huge economic burden on the Chinese population, with patients spending up to one-third of the average family income on COPD management in some regions is clinically beneficial to adopt preventable measures via prudent COPD care utilization, monetary costs, and hospitalizations. Methods: Toward this end, this study compared the relative effectiveness of six indices in predicting patient healthcare utilization, cost of care, and patient health outcome. The six assessment systems evaluated included the three multidimensional Body mass index, Obstruction, Dyspnea, Exercise capacity index, Dyspnea, Obstruction, Smoking, Exacerbation (DOSE) index, and COPD Assessment Test index, or the unidimensional measures that best predict the future of patient healthcare utilization, cost of care, and patient health outcome among Chinese COPD patients. Results: Multiple linear regression models were created for each healthcare utilization, cost, and outcome including a single COPD index and the same group of demographic variables for each of the outcomes. Conclusion: We conclude that the DOSE index facilitates the prediction of patient healthcare utilization, disease expenditure, and negative clinical outcomes. Our study indicates that the DOSE index has a potential role beyond clinical predictions.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.113-121
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• 1992

In order to estimate the pattern of medical care utilization and recognition for health factor among the inhabitants in Wan-do district which is located off the southern seashore from mainland Korea, household interview survey was performed from January 15 to 30, 1990 in Wan-do Gun area. The results observed were following: 1. Among the users of medical facilities 40.8% used public health facility as first contact facility. Lower the income level was and longer the residency duration was, the utilization rate of public health facilities was higher. By age groups and medical security status the utilization pattern was likely to disperse to local clinic and secondary contact medical resources. 2. Medical expense and access time were significantly different between primary contact and secondary contact medical resources. 3. Public health facility was recognized as the favoured institute having advantage of geographic and economic accessibility. 4. Statistically significant determinants in public health facility utilization among total medical service were the region, the medical expense, and the access time.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.278-291
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• 2015

Purpose: This study was conducted to examine differences in health care utilization and related costs between before and after the introduction of the designated doctor system, and to find out factors making the differences. Methods: Data were collected from 200 medical aid beneficiaries having one or more chronic diseases, registered in the designated doctor system during the year of 2012, and the relationship between the use of health services and claimed medical expenses was analyzed through paired t-test and multiple regression analysis using the SPSS 18.0 program. Results: There was a decrease in the number of total benefit days and the number of outpatient and medication days, but some cases showed an increase after the designation of medical institution. In general, hospital stay increased after the introduction of the system. However, the number of medical institutions utilized was reduced in most cases after designation. Conversely, medical expenses increased in most cases after the designation of medical institution. Conclusion: These results suggest that a detailed scheme to designate medical institutions should be made in consideration of the seriousness of illness and classification of medical institutions not only for the beneficiaries' enhanced health but for the effective management of medical aid fund.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.205-215
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• 2022

Background: The purpose of this study is to identify the factors infecting the medical care utilization from a new perspective by newly classifying the categories of administrative districts using the urban decline index and medical vulnerability index as indicators. Methods: This study targeted 150,940 people who used medical services using the 2015 cohort database (DB), 2010-2015 urban regeneration analysis index DB, and 2014-2015 public health and medical statistics DB. The decline of the region was classified using the urban decline index typed using k-means clustering and the medical vulnerability index typed using the quantile score calculation. Regression analysis was performed 3 times with medical expenditure, length of stay, and the number of outpatient visits as dependent variables. Results: There were 37 stable region (47.4%), 29 health vulnerable region (37.2%), and 12 decline region (15.4%). The health vulnerable region had lower medical expenditure, fewer outpatient visits, and a higher length of stay than the stable region. The decline region was all higher than the stable region but had no significant effect. Conclusion: The factors that cause the health disparity between regions are not only factors related to individual health behavior but also environmental factors of the local community. Therefore, there is a need for a systematic alternative that properly considers the resources within the community and reflects the characteristics of the population.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.30-39
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• 2018

Objectives: In Korea, there are many kinds of evaluations for medical institutions. However, evaluations are increasingly burdensome for medical institutions because evaluation agencies, evaluation timing, and evaluation methods are different. The purpose of this study is to improve the efficiency of evaluation for medical institutions and ultimately to provide quality medical services to patients. Methods: In this study, 2,310 indicators of 19 kinds of evaluation for medical institutions were analyzed. Results: 1,424 indicators were available for on-site surveys and 886 indicators were not available for on-site surveys. There were 4 kinds of evaluation that can be integrated in total, 12 kinds of evaluation that can be integrated partially, and 3 kinds of evaluation that need to maintain the current evaluation system. Conclusion: In order to provide patient-centered quality medical services through reduction of burden due to the evaluation for medical institutions, it is necessary to deeply discuss the efficiency of evaluation integration and result utilization.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.23 no.3 s.31
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• pp.285-295
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• 1990

The utilization of medical care services has been partly regionalized with the implementation of referral requirement by the government since July 1, 1989 when the health insurance coverage was extended to all the people. For the purpose of regionalization, the whole country has been primarily divided into tertiary care regions, and each of them again into secondary care regions. This study investigates the self-sufficiency for in-patient care services of secondary care regions focusing on why it varies among the regions. In doing so, analysis is performed to examine a model which embodies three sets of hypotheses as follows : 1) The regional self-sufficiency for medical care services would be subject to direct influences of regional characteristics, amount of available services and structural properties of regional medical care system ; 2) The regional characteristics would have indirect effects on the self-sufficiency which are mediated by medical care services ; and 3) The amount of available services would indirectly affect the self-sufficiency by influencing the structure of regional medical care system. The results of analysis were generally consistent with the model. The findings have some practical implications. The regional self-sufficiency for medical care services partly depends upon basic properties of each region which cannot be changed in a short period of time. Thus the self-sufficiency for medical care services can be improved mainly by health policy measures. In some of the regions the self-sufficiency for in-patient care services was much higher or lower than can be predicted from the bed-population ratio. Indication is that the allocation of health resources should be made considering a variety of factors bearing upon the supply of and demand for health care ; not on the basis of just a single criterion like the availability. The self-sufficiency of a certain region is related to not only its own characterstics but also the characteristics of neighboring regions. Therefore, attention should be also directed to the inter-regional relationships in health care when the needs for investment of health resources in a region are assessed. However, it should be noted that this study used the data collected before the referral requirement was imposed. A replication of this analysis using recent data would provide an evaluation of the impact on the self-sufficiency of the referral requirement as well as a confirmation of the findings of this study.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.125-139
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• 2021

Background: In Korea, the health gap widens due to the number of medical resources and access to medical services between metropolitan and rural. The purpose of this study is to identify the impact of residential migration on medical utilization and accessibility. Methods: This study extracted 528,516 claimed cases in the National Health Insurance Service-Cohort Sample Database from 2006 to 2015. Subjects were classified into two groups by the magnitude of the region, the metropolitan and the rural. The inversed probability weights were calculated for each group. And coefficients of the two-part model were estimated by generalized estimation equation. Results: Those who moved region from metropolitan to rural tend to increase the length of stay and inpatients with ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSC) disease. Contrariwise, those who moved areas from rural to metropolitan tend to decrease the total medical cost, the adjusted patient days, the number of outpatients and the number of outpatients and inpatients with ACSC disease. Conclusion: This study identified that between the residents who continued to reside in the region and the migrants, there were significant differences in the medical accessibility, quality of primary care, and unmet medical need.

• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.404-413
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• 2016

This study, based on the assumption that self-rated health status affects the use of health care utilization, aims to comprehend self-rated health status, as well as the differences in medical facility use depending on self-rated health status, and analyze according to chronic diseases to use it as the basis of a practical guide development for chronic disease patients' use of medical facilities. Used representative Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing data to analyze 7,486 participants. There is a difference in Chronic disease patients' use of health care utilization depending on self-rated health, and this difference was the most apparent in Oriental healthcare service and dental treatment use. This study was unable to control all confounding variables affecting medical service use, so we want this studied to be used to assist future studies.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.22 no.2 s.26
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• pp.236-241
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• 1989

The purpose of this study was to introduce the methodology of intervention analysis with time series data and to investigate the influence of the patient referral system on medical care utilization in Kangwha county. The data were obtained at the Kangwha Medical Inurance Society and we analysed the material based on the outpatient care fee. The results were as fellows: 1. The average outpatient care utilization in the hospital decreased by 41.7% due to the patient referral system. 2. The utilization of the health instituation increased by 278.8 persons per month due to the patient referral system. 3. The patient referral system did not influence the total outpatient are utilization. The methodology of intervention analysis, which detected the effect of intervention, will be helpful to the study of public health area.