• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.219-228
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• 2018

Objectives : This study was conducted to examine the relationships between Korean adult's daily hours of sleep, depression, and suicidal thoughts using data from the 7th National Health and Nutrition Survey. Methods : This study utilized a depression screening tool, the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), for the 6,355 participants of the health and mental health survey. T-tests, cross analysis, correlation analysis, and logistic regression analysis were used. Results : The results showed that sufficient hours of sleep decreased depression. The depression score for females (3.19) was significantly higher than for males (2.10; p<.001). The participants in the depression group slept less than 7 hours per day (p<.01). Conclusions : The study results showed a significant correlation between sleep duration and depression when health-related factors and social factors influencing sleep were controlled. The results also indicated that this correlation may vary based on gender. This study implies that further studies are necessary to identify the causal relationship between sleep duration and depression.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.67-79
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to analyze the factors affecting the utilization of emergency medical services and characteristics of emergency medical services according to age group among elderly individuals. Methods: This study conducted t-test and linear regression analysis on data of 1,960,575 participants to achieve the objective. Results: Analysis of the factors affecting the use of emergency medical services showed statistically significant correlation in all age groups. As the age of elderly people increased, the use of emergency medical service increased. Conclusions: Emergency medical policies are needed, such as coordinators with expert knowledge of medical and health administration and specialist emergency room operations that can provide specialized medical service for older patients.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.245-246
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• 2022

Concerns about a global economic recession are rising following the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Accordingly, government entities, which are committed to overcome two barriers to severe inflation and economic recession, are showing high interest in spending management so as not to undermine fiscal soundness. Since the health care sector especially accounts for a large proportion of fiscal expenditure, it should be managed in a manner that the expense is appropriately spent. The National Health Insurance System and Healthcare System have secured international competitiveness and reliability by effectively responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Likewise, considerable efforts should be made to reorganize the welfare and healthcare systems so that they can be sustainable during the post-COVID-19 era and the recession.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.423-436
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• 2021

This article summarizes the structure of China's current social health insurance system and reviews the development status of China's private health insurance (PHI). China's medical security system is mainly composed of two parts: basic medical insurance (BMI) and PHI. Among them, the BMI provides reimbursement of basic medical expenses for the insured persons according to different proportions. PHI is a necessary supplement to the BMI and provides assistance to the insured persons in the event of illness or accident. By having PHI, people can obtain medical protection outside the coverage of BMI. In the development of PHI in China, the total medical cost is high and the insurance market size is large, but the proportion of PHI expenditure is low and the personal burden is high. Through this Chinese case, it will be helpful for mutual development between Korean PHI and national health insurance, for Korean insurance companies to enter the Chinese market, and for removing the medical burden on the people.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.1-16
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• 2021

This study aims to examine the effect of integrated health and welfare(IHW) services on medical use and medical expenses in Korean Veteran Hospitals. Data on the volume of medical use and medical expenses were collected from two patient groups of 5 Veterans' Hospitals: the beneficiary group who has received IHW services and the non-beneficiary group who has not. Each group was composed of 265 patients respectively. The results of the study revealed that the volume of home nursing services, home rehabilitation services, ambulatory services have increased significantly, whereas the average length of stay, number of using emergency services, and average medical expenses have decreased after receiving integrated health services in the beneficiary group. In contrast, the non-beneficiary group showed much more increase both in the volume of inpatient and outpatient services, as well as the average medical expenses, compared to those of the beneficiary group. This results imply that the provision of IHW services have positive impacts on the enhancing the effectiveness of the medical resources utilization for the veteran patients.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.148-157
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• 2021

Background: Based on that the key function of health technology is improving the quality of healthcare services, our study purports to explore the process of medical device development in detail and to discuss its policy implications. Methods: A total of 12 in-depth interviews were conducted with four groups of industry, hospital, academia, and civil society. All of the interviewees except those from civil society were involved in the new medical device development between 2009 and 2018. We performed a text network analysis and content analysis of the interview data. Results: The frequency and the degree centrality rankings suggested a close association between the utilization issue and the technology development. Similarly, the results of the content analysis showed that the appropriate intervention in the utilization of technology has a direct impact on the progress of development. Under the continuous industrial effort to boost profits by developing new technology, service providers and citizens should be knowledgeable of and make good use of the new technology for the provision of better services. Conclusion: As the development itself would not guarantee the improvement of service quality and better health outcomes, health technology policies should take a more comprehensive view to serve the unmet needs and even to facilitate the technology development.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.344-354
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• 2021

Background: The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of national health insurance coverage of Chuna therapy in April 2019 on the costs and service uses in automobile insurance. Methods: This study used the claim data from Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. A total of 189,912 inpatients and 1,550,497 outpatients who received Chuna therapy covered by automobile insurance in oriental medical institutions were included. The analysis period was from July 2018 to December 2019, and a total of 18 months before and after April 2019, when Chuna therapy was covered by national health insurance. Interrupted time series analysis was applied to analyze the impact on the costs and service uses of Chuna therapy in automobile insurance before and after April 2019. Results: From July 2018 to December 2019, for 189,912 inpatients the cost and the number of times for Chuna therapy per capita were increased by 22.0% and decreased by 7.3% respectively right after the implementation of the policy. In the case of 1,550,497 outpatients, the cost of Chuna therapy per capita tends to be increased by 0.4% in overall study periods and increased 28.4% immediately after the implementation of the policy. Meanwhile, the number of times and visits for Chuna therapy per capita tends to be increased by 0.4% in overall study periods but decreased by 0.4% after the implementation of the policy. Conclusion: Results suggest that if the national health insurance coverage of oriental medicine services increases according to the policy stance for benefit expansion in national health insurance, the criteria for providing national health insurance benefits should be considered with the comprehensive impacts on the costs and service uses of automobile insurance.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.62-72
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• 2023

Based on the basic ideology of health care, this study realized the seriousness of annual unmet medical need and conducted a study to confirm the relationship between the subjective perception of regional healthcare environment and unmet medical needs. The independent variable was classified into attitude 'satisfaction' and 'unsatisfaction' toward regional healthcare, and the dependent variable was classified as whether unmet medical needs occurred annually. Based on previous studies, the control variables were selected as demographic and socioeconomic characteristics that can affect the occurrence of unmet medical care annually and characteristics related to health behavior. Descriptive statistics were conducted for each variable on the extracted sample, and multivariate survey logistic regression analysis was conducted to confirm the association between variables. As a result, more unmet medical needs occurred annually than those who were satisfied with the medical services in the area where they lived. In addition, more unmet medical need occurred annually in "unsatisfied" households compared to households "satisfied" with local medical services. In residential areas, women live in "metropolis" and "rural areas" compared to "urban," women live in men, lower education levels, and poor subjective health levels, and less satisfied with local medical services. As such, the impact of environmental factors in the community on the use of health and medical services is one of the major areas of interest in the field of health science, such as health policy and social dynamics. Therefore, hospitals in each region need to make efforts in terms of hospital management to increase the overall satisfaction of medical services in the region by continuously monitoring the attitude of residents to achieve universal health security, and policymakers should also be interested and propose new policies.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.65-80
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• 2005

This study examines the effects of supplemental insurance on health care utilization and expenditures among cancer patients, who were hospitalized in a general hospital in Korea 2003. We find that those who purchase the supplemental insurance in addition to the social health insurance use more health care services and pay more than those who do not, suggesting insurance effects. This paper, however, cannot distinguish the moral effects of the health insurance from the selection effects due to adverse selection.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.17-26
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• 2023

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify policy implications for the construction of public health facilities in the field of international cooperation, by examining the case of establishing a health care delivery system using a public health center in a rural area of Paraguay. Methods: Firstly, to map the capacity of the 20 public health centers that were studied, we used the WHO Capacity Mapping tool to select and analyze relevant items. Secondly, to assess the utilization of public health centers, we conducted a direct visit survey and analyzed the results using the M-survey tool. Results: The floor plan of each public health center, the structure of the health center, the size of the population served by each health center, the number of monthly visitors, medical human resources, and the budget were classified by health center for comparative analysis. In addition, by utilizing the M-survey tool, we analyzed the general characteristics of the respondents, their perceptions of the purpose and accessibility of public health centers, their satisfaction with using public health centers, and the level of demand for public health centers to play a role in promoting community health. Implications: The results of this study suggest that access to public health facilities for residents in the research area was improved. By classifying public health centers into two types, these centers can perform the functions and roles of primary health facilities. A patient request and evacuation system was established in the research area. Finally, a network, such as a social prescribing program, is needed so that public health centers can function as a "setting" for community members to live together.