• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.11 no.10
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• pp.459-467
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to identify the differences in medical care utilization by regional economic status using the National Hospital Discharge Patients Injury Survey. In order to determine economic status of each region, 234 cities and counties were categorized 5 quintiles according to their financial self-reliance ratio. The main results are as follows. First, low economic region has high age-standardized admission rate and standardized mortality rate. Second, of 16 major diseases, cerebrovascular and heart diseases, lung cancer, and stomach cancer reported greater changes in standardized mortality rate by regional economic status. Third, the rate of admission via emergency room in low economic region is higher than that of high economic region. Lastly, in the major illnesses, lower economic status led to an increase in average length of stay. Therefore, In order to bridge the gap in health inequality across regions, a regional medical policy tailored for each region and characteristics of the economic status should be established.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.248-254
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• 2023

Objectives: Measuring the quality of care is paramount to inform policies for healthcare services. Nevertheless, little is known about the quality of primary care and acute care provided in Korea. This study investigated trends in the quality of primary care and acute care. Methods: Case-fatality rates and avoidable hospitalization rates were used as performance indicators to assess the quality of primary care and acute care. Admission data for the period 2008 to 2020 were extracted from the National Health Insurance Claims Database. Case-fatality rates and avoidable hospitalization rates were standardized by age and sex to adjust for patients' characteristics over time, and significant changes in the rates were identified by joinpoint regression. Results: The average annual percent change in age-/sex-standardized case-fatality rates for acute myocardial infarction was -2.3% (95% confidence interval, -4.6 to 0.0). For hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke, the age-/sex-standardized case-fatality rates were 21.8% and 5.9%, respectively in 2020; these rates decreased since 2008 (27.1 and 8.7%, respectively). The average annual percent change in age-/sex-standardized avoidable hospitalization rates ranged from -9.4% to -3.0%, with statistically significant changes between 2008 and 2020. In 2020, the avoidable hospitalization rates decreased considerably compared with the 2019 rate because of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Conclusions: The avoidable hospitalization rates and case-fatality rates decreased overall during the past decade, but they were relatively high compared with other countries. Strengthening primary care is an essential requirement to improve patient health outcomes in the rapidly aging Korean population.

• Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.33-52
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• 2023

This study observes the difference in the actual regional ripple effect of the decrease in admission resources due to the decrease in school age population, which has been weak in empirical studies, and how much the decrease in competition rate by department nationwide provides a significant shock to the decrease in enrollment rate in the population unit. An empirical quantitative analysis was attempted. As a result of applying the panel-tobit regression model, a clear gap was confirmed in the decrease in the registration rate due to the decrease in the competition rate both nationally and in the provinces, and in particular, a highly significant relationship was derived with the decrease in the recruitment rate. In particular, the sensitivity of the risk of unrecruitment due to a decrease in competition rate was the highest in the Jeolla region (0.499), followed by the Gangwon region (0.475) and the Gyeongsang region (0.471), and the metropolitan region (0.158) was confirmed to be the most stable. This suggests that the gap in insufficient funding has gradually widened by region over the past 10 years, and that the shock wave becomes more pronounced in the provinces farther away from the metropolitan area. Based on this study, if we deviate from the standardized application of university development policies for the metropolitan area and regional universities, and present a customized higher education strategy for each region, it will be an opportunity to prevent local extinction due to a decrease in the school-age population and achieve coexistence with higher education institutions and regions at the same time.