• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.21-29
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• 2006

Objectives: We wanted to estimate the annual socioeconomic costs of alcohol drinking in Korea. Methods: The costs were classified as direct costs, indirect costs and the other costs. The direct costs consisted of direct medical costs, indirect medical costs and subsidiary medical costs. Particularly, the medical costs and population attributable fraction for disease were considered to reflect the calculation of the direct medical costs. The indirect costs were computed by the extent to which the loss of productivity and loss of the workforce might have occurred due to changes in mortality and morbidity according to alcohol drinking. The other costs consisted of property loss, administration costs and costs of alcoholic beverage. Results: The annual costs, which seemed to be attributable to alcohol drinking, were estimated to be 149,352 hundred million won (2.86% of GDP). In case of the latter, the amount includes 9,091 hundred million won for direct costs (6.09%), 62,845 hundred million won for the reduction and loss of productivity (42.08%), 44,691 hundred million won for loss of the workforce (29.92%), and the other costs (21.91%). Conclusions: Our study confirms that compared with the cases of Japan (1.9% of GNP) and the other advanced countries (1.00-1.42% of GDP), alcohol drinking incurs substantial socioeconomic costs to the Korean society. Therefore, this study provides strong support for government interventions to control alcohol drinking in Korea.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.151-175
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• 1999

This study develops principles for determining and managing costs applicable to grants and cooperative agreements for basic research. We investigated financial management policies of funding agencies and foundations in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Japan and Korea. Also we surveyed opinions of researchers and research fund administrators in Korean universities. Based on our review of funding agencies and our survey, the recommended management policies for grants and cooperative agreements are as follows: (1) Cost Structure. Cost of a sponsored agreement is comprised of the allowable direct costs and allocable portion of the allowable indirect costs. Direct costs can be further divided into salaries and wages, equipment, and other direct costs. (2) Salaries and Wages. Salaries and wages applied to a grant are paid for services rendered to the project during the period of performance of the particular agreement. In order to give researchers financial incentive, researcher allowance can be paid up to 30% of his/her regular salary. (3) Equipment. Any property purchased with grants which has an acquisition cost of 5,000,000 won or more per item and a normal life expectancy of two years or more is defined as equipment. Expenditures for special purpose equipment are allowable provided the acquisition of items is necessary for the research supported by the grant. (4) Other Direct Costs. Other direct costs are comprised of travel (both domestic and foreign), materials, other costs. Other costs may not exceed 30% of total other direct costs. (5) Indirect Costs. Since there is no clear consensus on indirect costs and additional budget is necessary to support actual indirect costs, the practical policy at the moment is to give a research support expense in lieu of indirect costs. In the future, however, some form of actual indirect costs should be supported. This study develops principles for determining and managing costs applicable to grants and cooperative agreements funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology. This research can be applied to other governmental agencies to give consistency and uniformity in administration of grants and cooperative agreements.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.82 no.1
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• pp.27-34
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• 2019

Background: Understanding the burden of disease is important to establish cost-effective treatment strategies and to allocate healthcare resources appropriately. However, little reliable information is available regarding the overall economic burden imposed by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Korea. Methods: This study is a multicenter observational research on the COPD burden in Korea. Total COPD costs were comprised of three categories: direct medical, direct non-medical, and indirect costs. For direct medical costs, institutional investigation was performed at 13 medical facilities mainly based on the claims data. For direct non-medical and indirect costs, site-based surveys were administered to the COPD patients during routine visits. Total costs were estimated using the COPD population defined in the recent report. Results: The estimated total costs were approximately 1,245 million US dollar (1,408 billion Korean won). Direct medical costs comprised approximately 20% of the total estimated costs. Of these, formal medical costs held more than 80%. As direct non-medical costs, nursing costs made up the largest percentage (39%) of the total estimated costs. Costs for COPD-related loss of productivity formed four fifths of indirect costs, and accounted for up to 33% of the total costs. Conclusion: This study shows for the first time the direct and indirect costs of COPD in Korea. The total costs were enormous, and the costs of nursing and lost productivity comprised approximately 70% of total costs. The results provide insight for an effective allocation of healthcare resources and to inform establishment of strategies to reduce national burden of COPD.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.341-351
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to estimate the socioeconomic costs resulting from alcohol drinking among adolescents as of 2006 from a societal perspective. Methods: The costs were classified into direct costs, indirect costs, and other costs. The direct costs consisted of direct medical costs and direct non-medical costs. The indirect costs were computed by future income losses from premature death, productivity losses from using medical services and reduction of productivity from drinking and hangover. The other costs consisted of property damage, public administrative expenses, and traffic accident compensation. Results: The socioeconomic costs of alcohol drinking among adolescents as of 2006 were estimated to be 387.5 billion won (0.05% of GDP). In the case of the former, the amount included 48.25% for reduction of productivity from drinking and hangover, 39.38% for future income losses from premature death, and 6.71% for hangover costs. Conclusions: The results showed that the socioeconomic costs of alcohol drinking among adolescents in Korea were a serious as compared with that of the United States. Therefore, the active interventions such as a surveillance system and a prevention program to control adolescents drinking by government and preventive medicine specialist are needed.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.3007-3013
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• 2016

Background: Gastrointestinal cancers are common malignancies associated with high mortality rates. Healthcare systems are always faced with high costs of treatment of gastrointestinal cancers including stomach cancer. Identification and prioritization of these costs can help determine economic burden and then improve of health planning by policy-makers. This study was performed in 2015 in Kerman City aimed at estimating the direct hospital costs for patients with gastric cancer. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the medical records of 160 patients with stomach cancer admitted from 2011 to 2014 to Shafa Hospital were examined, the current stage of the disease and the patients' health status were identified, and the direct costs related to the type of treatment in the public and private sectors were calculated. SPSS-19 was used for statistical analysis of the data. Results: Of the patients studied, 103 (65%) were men and 57 (35%) were women. The mean age of patients was 65 years. Distribution into four stages of the disease was 5%, 20%, 30%, and 45%, respectively. Direct costs in four stages of the disease were calculated as 2191.07, 2642.93, 2877, and 2674.07 USD (63,045,879, 76,047,934, 82,783,019, and 76,943,800 IRR), respectively. The highest percentage of costs was related to surgery in Stage I and to medication in Stages II, III, and IV. According to the results of direct costs of treatment for stomach cancer in Kerman, the mean total cost of treating a patient in the public sector was estimated at 74,705,158 IRR, of which averages of 60,141,384 IRR and 14,563,774 IRR were the shares of insurance and patients, respectively. Conclusions: The high prevalence and diagnosis of disease in old age and at advanced stages of disease impose great costs on the patients and the health system. Early diagnosis through screening and selecting an appropriate treatment method might largely ameliorate the economic burden of the disease.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.155-177
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• 1997

Since 1995 the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology has introduced and implemented a project based system (PBS) for awarding R&D funds. While capital investments for national laboratories such as buildings and research facilities are supported by the government, normal operating expenses including personnel expenses should be earned by national laboratories through open competition under PBS. The project budget includes both direct research costs and indirect costs. The purpose of this paper is to examine the components of indirect costs and to examine determinants of indirect costs of national laboratories in Korea. The indirect costs of nineteen national laboratories are examined. The direct personnel costs and indirect personnel costs out of total personnel costs are 72% and 28%, respectively. The average indirect cost rate is 74.1% of direct personnel costs. Major components of indirect costs are general operating costs, indirect personnel costs, taxes and dues, and expenses related to the usage of equipment. The significant determinants of indirect cost are indirect personnel ratio. the ratio of unique projects, the type of national laboratories (pure research laboratories or other), and asset activity ratio measured as research divided by total assets. The high indirect personnel ratio, the high ratio of unique projects, the laboratories classified as other, the low asset activity ratio are related to high indirect cost rates.

• KIEE International Transactions on Power Engineering
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• v.5A no.2
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• pp.186-192
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• 2005

As the power industry moves towards open competition, there has been a call for methodology to evaluate power system reliability by using customer interruption costs. This paper presents an evaluation of the interruption costs for public customers in Korea using customer survey methodology. When various research results are examined, the evaluation of direct interruption costs becomes much more simplified. Especially, in the case of public customers, it is known that the evaluation of direct interruption costs is more useful. Accordingly, this paper selected the customer survey method to evaluate the interruption costs for public customers in Korea considering interruption and customer characteristics.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.72-82
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• 2010

Purpose: This study was conducted to estimate the annual socioeconomic costs of menopausal syndrome treated with oriental medicine in Korea 2008. Methods: Study subjects selected were patients aged 40 years or older who had national health insurance(NHI) claims record with menopausal syndrome(KCDO codes: K04, K04.0, K04.2, K04.3, K04.4) for oriental medicine treatment in 2008. Direct medical cost of oriental medicine treatment for menopausal syndrome were measured from NHI claims records. Direct non-medical costs were estimated as transportation costs incurred when visiting hospitals. Indirect costs were defined as patients' productivity loss associated with office visits or hospitalization. Also, the costs of unpaid-household chores were calculated. Results: The total cost for the oriental medicine treatment of menopausal syndrome in the nation was estimated to be 743,091,219 Korean won(KRW) which included direct costs at 442,971,637 KRW and indirect costs at 300,119,583 KRW. Conclusion: This study provides an important perspective of socioecnomic influence due to menopausal syndrome treated with oriental medicine. And this results can be used as elementary data for menopausal syndrome-related health policy of oriental medicine.

• Journal of Korean Foot and Ankle Society
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.165-169
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• 2011

Purpose: The objective of this study was to analyze diabetic foot patients' direct service costs until the cure of the disease. Materials Methods: The subjects of this study were randomly sampled 60 patients who had been treated for diabetic foot at one of two tertiary hospitals and cured of the disease during from January 2008 to December 2009, and whose diagnostic code was E11.5 or E14.5. Data were collected from medical records and direct service costs were analyzed using data on the payments of individual service charges. Direct service costs spent at other medical institutions for the same disease were excluded. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: The subjects' mean hospital stay was 29 days, and mean period until cure was 132 days. The inpatient cost per patient was 10,844,648 won, outpatient cost was 715,751 won, and home care services cost was 641,854 won, so total direct service cost per patient was 11,913,419 won. The total direct service cost in patients who had their foot amputated was 12,769,822 won, 1.3 times higher than without amputation, who had vascular intervention was 16,219,477 won, 1.9 times higher than non-vascular intervention, who had both infection and artery occlusion was 17,522,435 won, 2.0 times higher than either infection or artery occlusion. Conclusion: In diabetic foot patients, the direct service cost was highest as 17,522,435 won in patients accompanied with both infection and occlusion of lower extremity artery.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.371-389
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• 2009

This study estimates the socioeconomic costs of missing children in Korea. The costs were classified as direct costs and indirect costs. The direct costs consisted of direct costs for searching for missing child such as making posters, transportation, and medical costs. The indirect costs were computed by the opportunity costs caused by child missing. The total costs that could be attributable to missing child were estimated to be about 570 million won per long-term missing child. This provides strong evidence that prevention of child missing is the most important and quick recovery after child is missing is the second most important. Missing child incurs substantial socioeconomic costs to the Korean society. Therefore, this study provides strong need for more interest from people who are indifferent to missing child issues and strong support for more government interventions to solve missing child problem in Korea. Further studies are needed to calculate socioeconomic costs of child missing more exactly.