• Journal of dental hygiene science
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.91-97
• /
• 2015

The purpose of this study was to examine any possible differences among adolescents in unmet dental care needs according to their demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and oral health status and influential factors on the basis of the fifth national health and nutrition examination survey data. The findings of the study were as follows: Unmet dental care needs were accounted for 19.84 percent. As for the reason, many replied that they couldn't afford to leave school during school hours, and economic factors. As a result of analyzing what affected their unmet dental care needs, this experience was more common in the older age groups than in the 6~12 years age group, and the experience was less common in the respondents with a larger income. As for the subjective oral health status, the experience was 0.61-fold and 0.72-fold less in the respondents who perceived their health as fair or good than who thought their health was poor respectively. And there was a tendency that getting regular dental checkups led to 0.22-fold less experience. Given the above-mentioned findings, the kind of policy that makes dental care services more accessible to youth in consideration of socioeconomic circumstances should be carried out. As many of the adolescents couldn't leave school during school hours, schools should be equipped with dental clinics to improve accessibility to dental care services.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.117-144
• /
• 2020

In accordance with Article 15 of the Medical Law, medical personnel in Korea cannot refuse treatment of a patient unless there is a justifiable reason, and violation of this obligations is subject to criminal penalties. Japan also stipulates the same content in the law. However, this violation of obligations in Japan is not subject to criminal penalties, and is used as a judgment element of the liability for damages of doctors only in the case of damage to the patient. However, in both countries, it is difficult to interpret and apply the law because the regulation is a little ambiguous. In particular, the key is to find out what is the justifiable reason for the doctor to refuse treatment of the patient. Recently, Japan has completed the work of re-examining the discussion on medical refusal from a modern perspective in terms of improving the excessive working environment of doctors. On the other hand, in Korea, it is not clear in what cases it is possible to refuse treatment. because there is a lack of systematic discussion on medical refusal. Rather, unnecessary misunderstandings and controversies have resulted in the loss of trust between patients and doctors. In Korea, there is already a legal right for a doctor to reject it according to his religious beliefs or conscience in the implementation of the suspension of life-sustaining treatment decisions. And in the case of an abortion, debates are underway that doctors should be given the right to refuse it. This study introduces the current state of discussion in Japan, and examines the issues surrounding medical refusal in Korea. It is hoped that this study will facilitate further discussions on the medical refusal.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.35-77
• /
• 2023

As the amendment to the Personal Information Protection Act, which newly established the basis for the right to request transmission of personal information, was promulgated through the plenary session of the National Assembly, MyData, which was previously applied only to the financial sector, could spread to all fields. The right to request transmission of personal information is the right of the information subject to be guaranteed for the realization of MyData. However, since the right to request transmission of personal information stipulated in the Personal Information Protection Act is designed to be applied to all fields, not a special field such as the medical field, it has many shortcomings to act as a core basis for implementing MyData in Medicine. Based on this awareness of the problem, this paper compares and analyzes major legal trends related to the right to portability of personal health information at home and abroad, and examines the limitations of Korea's Personal Information Protection Act and Medical Act in realizing Medical MyData. Under the Personal Information Protection Act, the right to request transmission of personal information is insufficient to apply to the medical field, such as the scope of information to be transmitted, the transmission method, and the scope of the person obligated to perform the transmission, etc.. Regulations on the right to access medical information and transmission of medical records under the Medical Act also have limitations in implementing the full function of Medical My Data in that the target information and the leading institution are very limited. In order to overcome these limitations, this paper prepared a separate and independent special law to regulate matters related to the use and protection of personal health information as a measure to improve the legal system that can effectively guarantee the right to portability of personal health information, taking into account the specificity of the medical field. It was proposed to specifically regulate the contents of the movement and transmission system of personal health information.

• 한국노년학
• /
• v.37 no.2
• /
• pp.281-291
• /
• 2017

The present study aimed to investigate the rate of unmet healthcare needs for elderly over the age of 65 years, as well as analyze the relevance between employment status and unmet healthcare needs due to financial reasons. With regard to the study method, a logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate the correlation between employment status and unmet healthcare needs due to financial reasons, targeting 5,528 subjects over the age of 65 years. The results showed that the rate of unmet healthcare needs was 18.9%, in which the rate of unmet healthcare needs due to financial reason was 8.1%. The rate of unmet health needs was higher for temporary workers(ORs=1.75) than for retirement workers. However, the rate of unmet healthcare needs caused by financial reasons was higher among day workers(ORs=1.92). In conclusion, in order to prevent unmet healthcare needs for senior Korean patients, it is necessary to not only improve the income security system for the elderly, but also improve the occupational form and level of income of these economically active citizens, considering the increase in average life expectancy. Moreover, it is also necessary to reinforce health insurance coverage systems for settling medical expenses.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.13 no.11
• /
• pp.187-197
• /
• 2013

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of outpatient cost sharing reduction on health care utilization of children under 6 years old. Methods : The data in this analysis was the health insurance claims data between August 2006 and July 2008. The study group was divided into two age groups, namely 0-5 years old and 6-10 years old. This study evaluated the impact of policy change on office visits per person and expenditure per visit. In order to do so, the double difference analysis is used. Results: The results showed that outpatient cost-sharing reduction has never really had a huge impact on office visits per person and expenditure per visit. Conclusions: This study showed that the outpatient cost sharing reduction for children under 6 years old policy is not working. Therefore, cost sharing of National Health Insurance by income class is needed.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.235-244
• /
• 2024

This study is a descriptive exploratory research aimed at identifying factors influencing the health-related quality of life(HRQOL) in middle-aged and senior-aged patients with complex chronic diseases. The study participants were extracted from the Korean Medical Panel annual data. A total of 2,408 patients, with two or more chronic diseases were included. The data were analyzed using STATA 15.0 software through descriptive statistics, t-tests, ANOVA, and multiple linear regression analysis. The research findings indicate that in middle-aged patients, educational level, household income, economic activity, stress, experience of despair, and basic needs satisfaction positively influence health-related quality of life. On the other hand, types of medical insurance, depressive feelings, and suicidal ideation exert a negative impact. In the case of senior-aged patients, positive influences on health-related quality of life were observed for educational level, household income, economic activity, alcohol consumption, stress, experience of despair, and basic needs satisfaction. Conversely, negative influences were noted for marital status, types of medical insurance, depressive feelings, and suicidal ideation. Therefore, in order to enhance the HRQOL for middle-aged and senior-aged patients with complex chronic diseases, tailored policies considering individual and age-specific characteristics should be formulated.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.211-221
• /
• 2024

Background: The public health crisis caused by coronavirus disease 2019 emphasizes the need to expand and strengthen public hospitals. However, the overall perception of public hospitals remains negative. This negative perception can hinder the roles and functions of public hospitals, so this study aims to analyze the factors affecting negative perceptions of public hospitals. Methods: We used data from a survey on the public healthcare of Chungcheongbuk-do residents conducted by the Chungcheongbuk-do Public Health Policy Institute, and 1,916 adults aged 19 or older who responded to the survey were included in the study. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the impact of experiences with public hospitals use and evaluations of public healthcare and public hospital policies on the negative perception of public hospitals. Results: The experience of not using public hospitals (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.69; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04-2.74) and negative evaluations of public healthcare and public hospital policies were found to significantly impact negative perceptions of public hospitals. In public healthcare policies, negative evaluations of the provision of essential medical care (aOR, 4.14; 95% CI, 2.59-6.62), regional disparities (aOR, 1.59; 95% CI, 1.02-2.49), coverage (aOR, 1.99; 95% CI, 1.25-3.16), and quality of care (aOR, 2.39; 95% CI, 1.50-3.80) were significantly associated with negative perceptions of public hospitals. In public hospital policies, negative evaluations of facilities and equipment (aOR, 3.74, 95% CI, 2.36-5.94), medical specialties and services (aOR, 1.91; 95% CI, 1.21-3.01), and quality of medical service (aOR, 2.71; 95% CI, 1.72-4.25) were also significantly associated with negative perceptions of public hospitals. Conclusion: This study emphasizes the need to improve perceptions of public hospitals by considering the experience with public hospitals use and evaluation of public healthcare and public hospital policies.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.57-94
• /
• 2000

Korea's social health insurance system was introduced in 1977, which has made a universal coverage possibly by July 1989. Korean government had pursued a single objective for the last decade to put the whole population under the coverage of medical security, and the objective was achieved within 12 years. The rapid accomplishment is primarily due to such factors as limited benefits, high copayment rate, low contributions as well as rapid economic growth. There are several sources of pressure for the implementation of social health insurance such as health professional group, labor unions, politicians, international organizations etc.. However it is important to look at the feasibility of social health insurance. Among other things, it is necessary to identify the administrative infrastructure of insurance system and to assess income for source of fund. As many developed countries, Korea began to apply health insurance to the employees of the large firms, and the expansion based on employment status. Thus the several funds system was inevitable according to the gradual expansion strategy. However many persons had criticized several funds system in respect with equity and efficiency aspects. In the short history of the Korean health insurance, whether one fund or sever or funds had been the most controversial issue. In Febrary 1999, the National Assembly passed the act of one fund system. From July 2000 separate funds will be unifed under new health insurance scheme. In this study we will analyze the policy making process on implementation, expansion and integration of health insurance system of Korea. And also analyse problems related to policy making.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.11 no.11
• /
• pp.389-395
• /
• 2013

As fusing IT and medical technique, the number of patients who adhere medical equipment inside of them is increasing. However there is a problem of for the third person to tap or modulate the patient's biometric data viciously. This paper suggests quantum encryption-based key distribution model to share key for the third person not to tap or modulate the patient's biometric data between patient and hospital staff. The proposed model uses one-time pad key that shares key sending random bits not direct sending message of quantum data. Also, it guarantees patient's anonymity because the biometric data of injected-device in the body doesn't be exposed unnecessarily.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
• /
• v.20 no.5
• /
• pp.611-621
• /
• 2020

Objectives: This study aimed to verify the impact of dental health care insurance coverage policy by analyzing the changes in dental care utilization and expenditures over 5 years from 2012 to 2016, when the dental health insurance coverage expansion policy was implemented. From the national cohort data collected by the Korea Health Panel Survey, a retrospective study was conducted for all household members using dental services. Methods: This study statistically verified the difference in the dependent variables by frequency analysis, chi-square test, t-test, and one-way analysis of variance (SPSS version 22, IBM Co. USA, p<0.05). Results: The annual utilization rate steadily increased from 23.4% to 26.1% between 2012 and 2016. Although there were differences in utilization rates by gender, age, and income level, patients kept using the dental services in 2016 regardless of the type of health insurance. The average annual copayment for patient expenditures (out-of-pocket amount) increased from ￦463,844 to ￦537,401 in 2012 and 2016, respectively. Of the dental care expenditures over 5 years, the ratio of uninsured expenses by the elderly decreased from 38.5% to 25.9%, and the national health insurance service coverage increased from 40.3% to 49.1%. Conclusions: Although this policy did not reduce overall patient expenditures, it has been found that there was a positive effect on the elderly and low-income groups; it increased the utilization and access to dental services.