Abstract
This study was conducted to investigate the distribution of private medical practitioners' income from the medical insurance and its determinants. Total amount of the medical service fee paid by the medical insurance to 1,268 private clinics(767 in Taegu and 510 in Kyungpook that had been in practice at least for one year) in 1993 was compared by the characteristics of practitioner, clinic, patient and population. The practitioners in 40-49 years of age and 6-10 years inpractice had the highest income. Total income of a clinic was increased with the number of physicians, employees and equipments. The largest income differentials were observed among obstetrics and gynecology clinics and the least differentials were among pediatrics clinics. The characteristics of practitioner, clinic and population accounted for 41.7% of the total variance of income. The important determinants of income were specialty of the clinic, age of the practitioner and number of the employee and equipments. The large income differentials among clinics imply a skewed distribution of patients and thus long waiting time, inefficient utilization of manpower and inadequate quality of care. Effective measures to reduce the income differentials need to be developed.