• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.93-110
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• 2003

Fiscal crisis in the medical insurance has put the pressure upon hospitals by increasing the rate of curtailment, since the implementation of the separation between prescription and dispensing of Drug. The purpose of this study is to analyze the curtailment for antibiotics, injected drug and other drugs expenditure before and after the system of separation between prescribing and dispensing. Data were gathered from 13 general hospitals and used for analysis of trends on antibiotics and injected drug expenditure, and curtailment in 2000-2001 at three months intervals. The results were as follows; The curtailment rate of antibiotics expenditure has been increased in outpatient and inpatient since 2000. The curtailed antibiotics cost and injected drug cost in outpatient under the prescription within the hospital and in inpatient increased. The ratios of curtailment versus expenditure had increased in antibiotics, injected drugs, anticancer drugs, antiulcer drugs, albumine, antiinflammatory drugs. These results suggest that claim review system in social health insurance were over-focused mainly to control the cost and it might to impede the validity of claim review function in health insurance system. Therefore, it's needed to develope the scientific and reasonable parameter & criteria for claim review of drug expenditure.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.17-21
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• 2021

In 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused unprecedented disruptions to global health systems. The Korea has taken full-fledged actions against this novel infectious disease, swiftly implementing a testing-tracing-treatment strategy. New obligations have therefore been given to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) to devote the utmost effort towards tackling this global health crisis. Thanks to the universal national health insurance and state-of-the-art information communications technology (ICT) of the Korea, HIRA has conducted far-reaching countermeasures to detect and treat cases early, prevent the spread of COVID-19, respond quickly to surging demand for the healthcare services, and translate evidence into policy. Three main factors have enabled HIRA to undertake pandemic control preemptively and systematically: nationwide data aggregated from all healthcare providers and patients, pre-existing ICT network systems, and real-time data exchanges. HIRA has maximized the use of data and pre-existing network systems to conduct rapid and responsive measures in a centralized way, both of which have been the most critical tactics and strategies used by the Korean healthcare system. In the face of new obligations, our promise is to strive for a more responsive and resilient health system during this prolonged crisis.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.203-242
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• 2019

Since 2006, local governments in Korea have been providing premiums for social insurance, such as the National Health Insurance System, for the health care of local residents. The purpose of this study is to analyze the content of self-governing legislation that defines these policies. The method of conducting the research was based on the articles of the ordinance related to the 'public health insurance premium' of the self-governing statutes published on the website of the National Law Information Center. As of May 2019, 201 municipalities have enacted ordinances to support public health insurance premiums. In the case of state local governments, 8 out of 17 were found, and in the case of basic local governments, 193 out of 226. The constitution of the ordinance consisted of purpose, time of enactment, type of social insurance premium, object of social insurance premium, amount of social insurance premium support, method and process of social insurance premium support, time of social insurance premium support. This study analyzed contents of these articles. Finally, this study presented issues that could be controversial from the policy and legal viewpoints and suggestions for improvement.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.7-18
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to derive periodical characteristics of the policy for the elderly in Japan by investigating the changes of social security system. The target period of 1946~2000 in Japan was divided into 3 periods for the understanding of periodical characteristics in the focuses of medical, welfare and pension system for the elderly; establishment of concept for the social security and welfare of Japan(1946,1950), appearance of social security system and the elderly problem(to late 1960's), infra construction for aging society(to late 1980's), development and reappraisal of practical policy for the elderly(to late 1990's). It is expected that this paper could provide basic data for the elderly-related policy making in our country.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.40-54
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• 2023

Background: Based on the increase in the needs for convalescent rehabilitation medical services in Korea, this study aims to calculate the needs for rehabilitation services and examine its determinants for 229 regions. Methods: Claim data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service were used to estimate patients who need to receive rehabilitation services, and data from various sources were also used for analysis. The number of cases and incidence rates of hospitalization related to convalescent rehabilitation were calculated to estimate the needs for services by region, and the results were visualized via a map. Multivariate regression and fixed effects regression using panel data were performed to identify the determinants of regional variation of the incidence rate. Results: First, the incidence rate of rural areas such as Jeolla-do, Gyeongsang-do, and Chungcheong-do was higher than urban areas (metropolitan cities). Second, the population, proportion of the elder, medical aid recipients, financial independence, traffic deaths, smoking, diabetes rate, and medical infrastructure correlated significantly with the incidence rate. Third, 'rho' values which mean the fraction of variance due to individual terms in panel data regression models were 0.965 and 0.976, respectively. Conclusion: The incidence rate of hospitalizations was correlated with most independent variables in this study and there is a gap between urban and rural areas. These regional disparities are fixed in our society. An improved regional convalescent rehabilitation system is suggested to cover the entire area including rural areas with a high rate of aging.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.3-18
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• 2013

This paper investigates the possibility of expanding pay-for-performance (P4P) program as a provider payment system, in terms of financial, economical, and political sustainability. In order to expand the sustainable P4P, P4P should have usefulness in terms of economic value as well as efficiency in the financial aspects of health care. More importantly, the P4P would be politically sustainable only when both providers and consumers can accept. Korea's healthcare system seems to have logical ground for the P4P program financially and economically. However, how well the P4P can work remains to be proven in its implementation. After 43 tertiary hospitals applied the P4P program for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and C-section in 2007, the number of hospitals adopting the P4P program for AMI and C-section has increased to 316 in 2011, and an incentive for hospitals applying the P4P has risen to 2% from 1% of health insurance benefits. This shows that the P4P program introduced by Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service is quite successful. In addition, people are aware of the need for improved P4P program and policy alternatives have been already made. Therefore, it is very important to come up with politically supportable strategies that can make providers and consumers accept the P4P program while maintaining the governance of the existing health insurance policy. To this end, there are some tasks to be considered. First, the expansion of the P4P program should be placed on the agenda of the Health Insurance Policy Review Committee, the highest decision-making body, and a separate agency for P4P planning should be established. Second, for more efficient P4P program, the processes of review and assessment, currently carried out separately, should be integrated into a single process. Third, infrastructure to measure the quality of medical services should be sharply expanded. Fourth, the current paradigm for the assessment should be changed. Lastly, a P4P program for consumers should be considered. Given that the consumers in Korea can use medical services freely, the National Health Insurance Corporation could initiate the P4P program for consumers as a means of controlling excessive use of medical services and adjusting consumer's moral hazard.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.334-347
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• 2006

The aim of this study is to evaluate the reasonableness of the medical fee on oral and maxillofacial surgery field according to surgeon's opinions and actual conditions. The medical fee has significant influence on hospital income, the supply and distribution of medical manpower, quality and facilities of medical services. Questionnaire survey was sent to 86 oral and maxillofacial surgeons who worked more than 3 years in general hospital. Among them, 25 doctors replied the 109 answers survey and the average of treatment time and physician work relative value on each category was calculated. And the health insurance cost (that has been applied since 2003) was compared with the questionnaire results. And finally we investigated items that health insurance system did not include in oral and maxillofacial field but actually performed in oral and maxillofacial surgery clinic. The result was that the medical fee did not properly reflect physician work relative value of actual treatments. In case of complicated extraction, work relative value needed 3.5 times enhancement of present value. For simple impacted tooth extraction 1.8 times, for impacted tooth extraction including odontomy 1.7 times, and for fully impacted tooth more than 2/3 of it located into the alveolar bone, 1.8 times enhancement needed. In respect of the present physician work relative value, hemimandibulectomy with neck lymph node dissection for the malignancy is appropriated as 3.3 times of open reduction and internal fixation for the mandibular fracture, but the questionnaire result showed 25 times discrepancy. In conclusion, this research shows the need for intervention that health insurance included items and legal relative medical value must act in union with treatment in clinic to reduce the imbalance between them.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.92-99
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• 2014

Background: Korea's primary care clinics are seeking increase in consultation fees by expanding supply within the frame of the health insurance system, but inequality of physician income between regions and individuals is exacerbating. The purpose of this study lies in analyzing the distribution of patients of primary care clinics, their specialized field, and the degree of inequality between medical fee income according to region. Data was acquired from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service on charged bills made by clinic-size medical institutions from 2008 to 2011. Methods: By comparing the outpatient number per clinic according to the clinic's specialized field, results showed that ophthalmology, otolaryngology, dermatology, orthopedics, and internal medicine showed high numbers whereas plastic surgery, neuropsychiatry, cardiothoracic surgery had fewer outpatients. The number of outpatients for clinic according to region showed Chuncheonnam-do, Jeju-do, Gangwon-do, Chungcheongbuk-do, Ulsan to have higher numbers of outpatients. For those four years, clinics in the Seoul area had a rather lower number. Results: As a result of comparing the decile hierarchy distribution ratio between specialized fields according to primary care clinics income from National Health Insurance, the inequality degree showed that obstetrics and gynecology and general medicine were each 0.130, 0.280 for the decile distribution ratio, which was the highest degree of inequality within the specialized field. Their Gini coefficient were also relatively high at 0.691, 0.528 respectively. On the other hand, the decile distribution ratio for otolaryngology and orthopedics were 0.510, 0.468, respectively, while their Gini coefficient each at 0.318, 0.314 makes their inequality degree relatively lower than other fields. Conclusion: This study is limited in that the data used was the health insurance charges submitted by clinics, which does not provide total information of the doctors' income. However, because most clinics are largely dependant on their income to come from health insurance reimbursements. Therefore, the results of this study can be used effectively. In the future, research that includes data on non-covered service income should be conducted to closely examine policy plans with a new medical fee policy which can resolve the medical fee income inequality issue between clinics as well as revitalize primary medical care.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.41-55
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• 1980

The medical care insurance system, being put into practice nearly for three years, seem to have brought about some considerable problems as serious for the government as to consider a revision of that system. As one of the most serious problems of present system, the treatment cost of insurance patients is so remarkably low in comparison with than of non-insurance cases that normal operation of hospitals is threatened and care services of low quality are induced. The researcher carried out this survey to analyze and bring to light several aspects of treatment cost of non-insurance patients as a material for a re-assessment of the cost of insurance cases which shows a a considerable difference in amount at the standpoint of hospitals with than of non-insurance cases and further, hoping the significant blind spot of present insurance system(that is, the absence of regulations' for cost assessment by patterns or types of health care treatment) will be mended in near future. The survey was carried out with the treatment invoice sheets of total 902 in-hospital Patients of a general hospital in Seoul during the period of the 2 nd quarter of the year(1979). Among total 902 patients, 694 cases were used for analysis, because those disease or syndromes shared by less than 10% of the patients were put aside before procession. The data were analyzed by kinds or types of diseases, demographic characteristics of patients, hospitalization patterns, types of nursing treatment, etc. The result of analysis was as follows 1. Among all the non-insurance cases, those who received one or more kinds of nursing treatment mounted up to 96. 7 ％. The invoice issue frequency per person was 7.2 times, while that frequency per day for a person was 0.8, : the treatment cosr per person was ￦22,650 while its daily average was ￦2,430, due to the average 9.3 in-hospital days per person. 2. As to the nursing treatment types by the demographic characteristics of patients and hospitalization patterns. a. The unit cost female patients was generally more expensive them that of males, and independent nursing service was more given than other types of treatment. As to age, higher age groups received independent nursing service most, while the youngest group received instrumental and integrated nursing services. b. As to room grade, the unit cost of I.C.U. cases was the highest : and the cast of private room patients was higher than that of public room patients. By in-hospital days, the curve of function showed L. type : that is, the longer stay, the lower function. 3. State of treatment types by kinds of disease were ; a. Dependent nursing service showed comparatively high availability in surgical and neurologic disease and independent nursing service was most received by medical, obstetrical and urological patients, while instrumental and integrated services were most available for respiratory disease and obstetrical and neurologic diseases next. b. The invoice issue frequency per day for a patient was highest in obstetrical disease 3.8 times, and the unit cost(per one invoice sheet) was also highest in obstertrical disease(￦10,880) and next in neurologic cases(￦ 4,690 ). 4. As to the pertained departments. a. Cost amount per person was highest in department of Psychiatries daily cost was highest in obstetrical cases : while the invoice issue frequency was highest in obstetrics and next in pediatrics. b. In departments in need of surgical operation, dependent nursing care was highly availabl : while in internal medicine and obstetrics, independent service was higher. Psychiatrics showed the highest the of integrate nursing while pediatrics and obstetrics higher of instrumental services. The variation co-efficien of treatment cost came out to be relatively in high in special surgery, opthalmology and internal medicine. 5. State of treatment cost by types of nursing behavior was. a. The average frequency of invoice issue was 3.5 (times). Among the type four types of treatment, instrumetal service (4.3) and independent nursing behavior(3.9) showed higher frequency than average respectively. But as to unit cost (per invoice). dependent (￦5,200) and integrated (￦5,340) nursing care services were higher than average and considerably higher than the other two types. b. In repect patient distribution. independent nursing behavior(80.3% ) was the highest and depend ent nursing (31.7% ) the lowest. The variation co-efficient of treatment cost appeared highest in dependent nursing be havior as a whole, and among that, doctor's diagnosis showed the highest coefficient value (100.7). In conclusion, the variaty of treatment cost(treatment itself ) by various characteristics and treatment types pro- that treatment various sort of patients and treatment cost of various types of nursing behavior cannot be uniform. Therefore, to attain the equalization of health care service and its cost both for insurant and non-insurant patients, a more specific provision for assessment of cost should be added to the present medical care insurance system and, in addition, the cost of nursing treatment is desired to be inserted into the treatment invoice.

• Journal of Korean Medical classics
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.133-142
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• 2010

Preconditions for the separation of prescribing and dispensing medicinal herbs in Traditional Korean Medicine are classification of medicinal herbs for general public and special medical uses, establishment of national medicinal herb distribution company of governmental base, restriction in purchase of medicinal herbs for special medical use, partnership between doctors and pharmacists of Traditional Korean Medicine, and coverage of herbal medicine-based medication in national health insurance, etc. The number of Traditional Korean Medicine Pharmacists which was born during 'the herbal medicine conflict' initiated in 1993, goes over 1,000 and will increase by 120 annually. The number of Traditional Korean Medical Doctors is over 17,000 and increases by 850 annually. So in order to engage partnership between two groups, the government have to arrange the number of outputs of each group. Standardization and classification of diagnosis and diseases in Traditional Korean Medicine is a matter of course in the separation of prescribing and dispensing medicinal herbs. Related societies and academies need to do researches with governmental fund first. After these works, we can launch a task force team for implementation of process for the separation of prescribing and dispensing medicinal herbs in Traditional Korean Medicine properly. Entering the national health insurance system for full coverage of Korean Medicine care service will be essential for the patients. Implementation the separation of prescribing and dispensing medicinal herbs in Traditional Korean Medicine would be the core of health insurance coverage for medication.