• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.270-276
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• 2020

Entering the fourth industrial revolution era, health technology is rapidly developing and the people's needs for medical services are gradually increasing. Establishing a life cycle management of health technology has emerged as a new policy agenda to cope with these changes. However, the management of health technology have been conducted without continuity and with several problems pointed out. Therefore, we suggest the reform agendas by stages to establish system for a life cycle management of health technology in the fourth industrial revolution era as follows. In the stage of development, it is important not only to provide research funding, but also consulting by professional about whole cycle of health technologies. In the phase of market entry, there are needs for enhance the system that would expand the early adoption for innovative technology and increase its effectiveness. After the spread of health technology to clinical settings, a reassessment and post management system should be established that have an institutional framework with strong price adjustment and exit mechanism. Furthermore, we hope that discussions will be brisk in macro perspective on the balancing of development in healthcare industry, health of people and national health insurance finance.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.1-19
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• 2004

The purposes of this study were to investigate factors of the Obstetrics & Gynecology healthcare consumers' selection of hospitals by lifestyle segmentation and to propose managerial suggestions in health care marketing. Out of total 400 Questionnaires, 351 were considered to be valid for final analysis. The Questionnaire consisted of 81 Questions. 11 demographic Questions, 15 factors for selecting hospitals, 55 lifestyle. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS/pc+ Version 10.0. The subjects were divided into four groups in terms of their lifestyles: 'health active group', 'health conscious group', 'health indifferent group', 'health inactive group'. The analysis of factors related to the selection of hospitals shows that there were four factors: 'accessability', 'medical trust', 'cost and convenience', 'facilities'. Conclusion: As a results of this study, 4 types of healthcare consumers' lifestyle were defined. Each life style has specific characteristics. 'Health active group' pursue 'accessability', 'medical trust', 'cost and convenience' and Health conscious group' depended on 'medical trust', 'cost and convenience'. and 'facilities'. 'Health indifferent group' didn't show any special interest in the selection of hospitals and that 'Health inactive group' relied on 'medical trust', and 'facilities'.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.53-65
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• 2009

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify the prenatal heath care utilization and expenditure among pregnant women. Method: This was a 5-month follow-up study using a stratified sampling and the data were drawn from the "nationwide claim database of Korean National Health Insurance Corporation". Result: This study found that pregnant women were first diagnosed with pregnancy when they were 7.1 weeks pregnant, received 12.7 times of prenatal examinations and 10.6 times of ultrasonogram. It was revealed that 67.5% of the subjects continued to receive prenatal care at the same medical institutions from the diagnosis of pregnancy to the delivery. The study also showed that the total expenditure of prenatal care per pregnant woman was 700,000 Korean Won (KRW) on average and the insurance coverage rate stood at only 20%. Pregnant women living in metropolitan area spent more on prenatal healthcare expenditure than those who living in medium-sized city or rural area. Conclusion: The results of this study implies that the government needs to provide pregnant women with continuous support by increasing health insurance coverage for prenatal care. Especially, it is considered to provide more support to the pregnant women residing in medically underserved areas.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.18-32
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was a quantitative analysis for the influence of physician's assistants on national health insurance revenue and number of patients in clinic. The data was derived from the Korean national health insurance. That was complete enumeration. Dependent variables were measured by national health insurance revenue and number of patients. Independent variables were reported physician's assistants that the number of nurse, nurse-aid, technologist of clinical laboratory, physical therapist and radiologist in clinic. Confounding variables were classified by demand(region, number of inhabitants, number of clinics, number of bed per a hundred thousand persons) and supply(sex and age of representative, number of bed, subjective of medical treatment). On the multiple regression analyses, the physician's assistants that nurse, nurse-aid, technologist of clinical laboratory and physical therapist were statistically significant for outputs. But radiologist was statistically significant only for number of patient.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.304-311
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• 2014

This manuscript treats a new paradigm for the Korean health care system. We give an account of innovative health care delivery and payment models widely discussed in the contemporary US accountable care organization and coordinated care organization. In doing so, we explore a new health care model amenable to foreseeable changes to the health care system. We propose creating an integrated health care system in which the network of health care providers delivers coordinated and comprehensive care for enrolled patients residing within the geographic boundaries served by the provider network; providers may participate voluntarily in one or more networks and assume shared responsibility for patient care and cost; provider networks compete with each other based on cost and quality; and consumers are allowed to choose a network. We expect that the new paradigm will create a financially-sustainable system that assures quality of care and improves patient experience, minimizing the existing system-wide inefficiency through cross-network competition and within-network care coordination.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.357-366
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• 2014

Background: The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of an emergency ambulance system and to investigate socio-economic and clinical characteristics associated with emergency ambulance service. Methods: Based on 2011 Korea health panel, unmet need and inappropriate use of emergency ambulance service were measured by Gibson in 1977. Furthermore, the factors associated with unmet need and inappropriate use of emergency ambulance service were identified by Fisher's exact tests and multiple logistic regression models. Results: Unmet need, defined as the proportion of emergency patients who clinically need ambulance transportation but do not receive it, was found to be 59.8%. Inappropriate use, defined as the proportion of emergency patient receiving ambulance care who did not clinically need it, was found to be 37.2%. There were statistically significant differences between appropriate and inappropriate groups in overall variables of socio-economic and clinical characteristics. Specifically, gender, age, relationship to household, and reasons of visiting emergency department (accident/disease) were statistically significant factors associated with appropriate use of emergency ambulance service. Conclusion: Unmet ambulance need is a useful measure for patients needs assessment, and inappropriate ambulance use is a valid criteria in judging the efficiency of emergency ambulance system. To improve and understand emergency ambulance system, unmet need and inappropriate use of emergency ambulance service should be more concerned.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.330-341
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• 2014

Background: The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that affect the participation of union members who involved in the Korean health cooperatives. Methods: Questionnaires were collected from 1,041 respondents who voluntarily participated in seven health cooperatives. In order to verify the hypothesis, collected data were analyzed using binomial logistic regression. Results: Longer tenure, higher collective motive, organizational age were associated with types of participation. In operative participation, marital status, higher reward motive, better accessibility to the cooperatives influenced concern about the high-level participation. Organizational age were associated with the high-level participation in management participation. Longer tenure, interaction with staff, management participation were involved in additional investment. Conclusion: This is the first study to statistically prove that the influencing factors on the participation in the health cooperatives. Based on these findings, the provision of differentiated strategies should be useful for increase of participation.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.76-87
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• 1998

This study analyzed the effect of foreign currency exchange rate on the increasing rate of medical care cost by items of fee schedule of Korean Medical Insurance. This study uses the data of cost analysis including cost of imported goods and the data of for a university hospital National Federation's Medical Insurance for a trend of claim. The method of cost analysis is as same as that used in the study of the development of Korean RBRVS(Resource Based Relative Valus Scale). The main findings of this study are as follows; 1. The proportion of imported goods in cost related to Medical Insurance fee schedule is 7.93%, and in case of substitution of available domestic goods 6.96%. 2. If foreign currency exchange rate changes from 800wen per $1 to 1,300won, the affecting rate of Medical Insurance fee schedules is 5.00%. If the imported goods will be substituted with available domestic goods, the rate 4.35%. Our results can be used a data for updating Medical Insurance fee schedule. But this result is limited to be generalized, because this study used the cost analysis for a university hospital.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.77-106
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• 1994

This study attempts to evaluate the beneficial equity and operational efficiency of the three Korean medical insurance programmes and thereby suggest directions for their policy improvement. Concepts of the equity and effciency were reviewed to develop indicators for comparative analysis. For the analysis, statistical and financial accounting data for 1991, issued by the National Federation of Medical Insurance and the Korea Medical Insurance Corporation, on the operational status and performances of the programmes, were collected and rearranged to be suited to the purpose of the study. The analysis reveals that beneficial inequity exists between self-employed and employee programs. and that operational inefficiency is prominent in both programms for self-employeds and for Government employees and private school teachers. In order to improve the beneficial inequity of the self-employed program, it is suggested that policies be formulated and implimented toward increasing the program revenue through increasing subsidies from the Government, and through inter- program finance adiustment. For the operational inefficiency of the two programs, it is judged that, toghether with the administrative support and control from the Government and the insurance society bodies, self- efforts be initiated to improve the internal mangement styles and systems of the insurance societies. Finally, from the viewpoint of the structural efficiency, expansion of the preventive insurance benefits by the insurance soceties is recommended both for beneficial equity and operational efficiency.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.1-30
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• 1995

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.