• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.15-27
• /
• 2020

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to compare analysis of financial performance in university hospitals. Methods: Data from 2005 to 2017 were collected from income statement, balance sheet, and annual reports in 23 university hospitals. The dependent variables are used financial performance, namely, medical profit to total assets, medical profit to medical revenue, and net profit to medical revenue. The independent variables are establishment type, hospital province, bed, open liquidity, stability, and activity. Results: From 2005 to 2007, university hospitals steadily increased medical revenues, nonmedical revenues, medical profit, net profit, and reserve fund for essential business by investing fixed assets using financial leverage. From 2015 to 2017, the debt ratio was minimized based on existing management performance. Results showed that university hospitals maintained high profitability by actively investing in medical equipment, medical environment, and facilities using reserve fund for essential business. Conclusions: Results suggest that this will be the basic data for efficient management of university hospitals.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.143-164
• /
• 2010

Although word-of-mouth (WOM) has been regarded as one of the very important topics in consumer research, its effects on other aspects of consumer behavior have been scarcely investigated in the context of health-care service industry. The WOM literature also suggests that it is essential for medical care service organizations in fierce competition to adopt WOM communication as a competitive weapon so as to be able to stay ahead of competition. The goal of this research was set to empirically study various relationships between antecedent variables, WOM acceptance, and purchase of medical care services. Specifically, drawing on the WOM literature, eight antecedents to WOM acceptance were selected first. Based on the relevant literature, seven sets of hypotheses on the relationships among antecedents to WOM, WOM acceptance, purchase intention and purchase of medical services were developed. Data were collected via an on-line survey. A total of 571 out of 600 responses turned out to be usable. The major findings of this study can be summarized as follows: First, 6 out of 8 antecedent variables to WOM acceptance were found to be positively affect WOM acceptance. However, the effects of (1) "newness of technology" pertaining to medical care service characteristics and (2) "involvement in health", one of receiver characteristics, were found to be insignificant. Second, most moderating effects on the relationship between purchase and purchase intention of medical care services were found to be insignificant with one exception. That is, elapse of time was found to be a marginally significant moderator on the relationship between purchase and purchase intention of medical care services. Third, it was found that the higher the WOM acceptance, the higher the purchase intention of medical care services. Finally, the effect of WOM acceptance was found to be particularly strong when WOM contents were perceived as useful and positive. Overall, it seems essential for hospitals to actively adopt WOM communication as a competitive marketing tool if they plan to improve their business performance. In this respect, the current study may serve to improve the business performance of hospitals by way of providing theoretical and empirical evidence on the effects of WOM communication variables on WOM acceptance and medical care service purchase.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.1-3
• /
• 2024

Currently, the issue of poor accessibility to essential medical services has been brought to light as a social discontent. In order to strengthen the essential medical service system, the government has announced the "the policy package related to essential medical service" as a comprehensive solution and has vowed to invest more than 10 trillion won by 2028. As it contains crucial elements for changing the framework of the healthcare system, I would like to present several points to consider in policy implementation. Given that this package contains important elements for changing the framework of the healthcare system, there are a few issues to consider in policy implementation. First, a mechanism to prevent politicization should be established when designing the physician training system. Second, changing from a hospital centered on residents to one centered on specialists means that the society bears the cost of training residents, while paying a high price for specialist services. The willingness of society to pay for the costs incurred by such a change should be carefully considered, and an appropriate budget must be prepared. Third, as the operation of shared human resources and inter-organizational networking, among other detailed policy measures, are still at a level of conceptual discussion, various issues should be solidly reviewed and considered for in the mid to long term to suit the conditions of the domestic healthcare system.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
• /
• v.19 no.5
• /
• pp.97-105
• /
• 2018

In this paper, we present our recent effort on the development of a portable OCS system (SCH-mOCS), which provides minimal but essential functionalities of conventional OCS systems. SCH-mOCS is targeted for the environment where Internet connection is not available and fast processing of essential patient information is needed. The main usage could be found at the outdoor environment, such as voluntary medical services at challenged regions. The target of the first usage of the system is in the rural area of Cambodia where medical service and ICT infrastructure is poor. We have been conducting voluntary medical services for 15 years in Cambodia, where the services usually run for 3 days and include outpatient diagnosis/consultation, medication, and simple surgeries. This medical service started in 2002, where about 20 SoonChunHyang University Bucheon Hospital staffs (doctors, nurses, and pharmacists) participated. We realized that a system like SCH-mOCS is needed: we have to consult many patients in a short period, so that a prompt response and prescription to the patients are very important. However, the conventional OCS system is not suitable, because the service is usually conducted outdoor environment where Internet connected computers cannot be installed. Moreover, since the service needs only a subset of the conventional hospital information system and fast system response, application of a full OCS is not practical. The adequate system is a bare minimal OCS system, with very simple and quickly manageable patient admission, consultation, and prescription functionalities. In this paper, we describe hardware as well as the software aspect of a mini-OCS we have developed for the purpose. We named the system SCH-mOCS (SoonChunHyang mini-OCS). We also describe the usage scenario of SCH-mOCS in order to demonstrate that the system is general enough to apply for other similarly challenged regions.

• Proceeding of Spring/Autumn Annual Conference of KHA
• /
• 2005.11a
• /
• pp.367-370
• /
• 2005

Offer of medical treatment service for recovery or preservation of physical spiritual function of elderly people by sudden population graying developing is essential. Therefore, according to increase of elderly's medical treatment demand, medical treatment service request is augmented. Number of medical treatment service utilization wishes to grope medical treatment service support way for elderly residing cloth elevation laying stress on elderly's Aging in Place in increase trend in this research. If decide, is as following : First, national hospital and public health center were concentrated most on Seoul and kyonggi, and there were many hospitals to south of a river nine, Songpagu, Seochogu, and public health center was expose that is one by one to each nine. Second, in the case of Seoul, elderly population ratio was expose that comparatively high Yeongdeungpo, Chongno, Yongsan, west passage nine is few hospital number relatively in elderly's residential area. Third, need that establish elderly full text clinic on part of general hospital or university hospital equipment. Fourth, must do so that can use access as is easy little more in local community to all elderly who need medical treatment service of visit nursing, visit medical examination and treatment etc.. that consist in present public health center.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.17-41
• /
• 2005

Current Korean medical system is evaluated as inefficient and the government is planning a new medical development plan to provide guaranteed life-long medical service and more efficient medical system Korean medicine also needs to participate as the primary medical provider and strengthen public recognition. The needs for active participation are essential to prevent irrational medical policies and Korean medicine can exercise medical merits. When the doctors of Korean medicine are recognized as the primary medical provider, not only social rights are served but also provide medical service to less privileged sector of the society. This calls for the establishment of system for attending physician and public health doctor from Korean medicine. Another important issue is the establishment of public medical service at the government level. Doctors of Korean medicine should be posted at the national health center and other public hospitals. Revision of the current policies on Korean medicine must be made to yield concrete outcome of the public Korean medicine service as well as cooperation between the conventional allopathic medical community and the Korean medical community

• Advances in robotics research
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.59-68
• /
• 2018

Autonomous mobile service medical robots (AMSMRs) are one of the promising developments in contemporary medical robotics. In this study, we consider the essential technical and intellectual abilities needed by AMSMRs. Based on expert analysis of the behavior exhibited by AMSMRs in clinics under basic scenarios, these robots can be classified as intellectual dynamic systems acting according to a situation in a multi-object and multi-agent environment. An AMSMR should identify different objects that define the presented territory (rooms and paths), different objects between and inside rooms (doors, tables, and beds, among others), and other robots. They should also identify the means for interacting with these objects, people and their speech, different information for communication, and small objects for transportation. These are included in the minimum set required to form the internal world model in an AMSMR. Recognizing door handles and opening doors are some of the most difficult problems for contemporary AMSMRs. The ability to recognize the meaning of human speech and actions and to assist them effectively are other problems that need solutions. These unresolved issues indicate that AMSMRs will need to pass through some learning and training programs before starting real work in hospitals.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.133-144
• /
• 2013

The present study is aimed at assessing medical service quality as perceived by in-patients of geriatric hospitals and at analyzing the excitement factors by using revised IPA Applying the Kano's model for users' satisfaction. The data was collected from Nov. 5 to Dec. 7, 2012. Among a total of 503 cases of questionaries, only 419 cases were used. To data were analyzed by PASW statistics 18.0 and revised IPA applying Kano's model. The paired t-test results reveal that satisfaction was higher than the expectation level at a statistically significant level across all the medical service quality factors. The revised IPA results categorized facility convenience, hospitalization and care, and kindness as basic factors and medical reliability and access as excitement factors. In conclusion, medical reliability and access, which were identified as excitement factors of medical service quality, are essential opportunity factors for users and should accordingly be used as strategic factors to increase satisfaction with a geriatric hospital and induce customer surprise.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.183-206
• /
• 2012

Changing social conditions have resulted in a situation where elderly patients are no longer cared for by family and where medical care hospitals play a more prominent role. In this study, the unique elements of the medical service required from a long term care hospital were identified using conventional and exploratory analysis, and the causal relationship between medical service quality, relationship quality, and Revist intent was confirmed. The intermediary role and the quantitative importance of relationship quality (including trust and commitment) were also characterized. This study identifies the key points and indicators that the administrators of a long term care hospital can use to effectively plan their medical service offering in order to secure the commitment of customers through relationship quality. The theoretical indications of this study are set out below. First, four factors are selected as being the key elements determining service quality: medics, administrative service, healthcare environment, and subsidiary facilities. Second, it seems that medics, administration service, and the healthcare environment have some effect on the evaluations made in relation to trust and satisfaction (subsidiary facilities are not considered to be a key element). Third, patient satisfaction has a positive impact on trust and commitment and can be regarded as a key element for establishing connections. Fourth, commitment is likely to be strengthened when trust is significant. Fifth, as trust and commitment increase, revist intent strengthens. Lastly, this study illustrates how the levels of trust and commitment play a modulating role between patient satisfaction and revist intention. There are many practical indications from the findings of this study. First, the influences of medics, the administrative service, and the healthcare environment on trust and satisfaction vary. Especially, the healthcare environment is likely to be more important than medics. Accordingly, it is essential to establish an elderly-friendly environment, to improve a hospital's structure, and to maintain a clean environment. Second, medics must show compassion to their patients and be patient when providing explanations to elderly patients who often lack powers of concentration. Third, in order to establish patient trust, it is essential that medics provide an excellent medical service. Ultimately, these elements of relationship quality may strengthen the revist intention of elderly patients.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.295-310
• /
• 2023

Background: The long-term care (LTC) group has higher rates of chronic disease and disability registration compared to the general older people population. There is a need to provide integrated medical services and care for LTC group. Consequently, this study aimed to identify medical usage patterns based on the ratings of LTC and the characteristics of benefits usage in the LTC group. Methods: This study employed the National Health Insurance Service Database to analyze the effects of demographic and LTC-related characteristics on medical usage from 2015 to 2019 using a repeated measures analysis. A longitudinal logit model was applied to binary data, while a linear mixed model was utilized for continuous data. Results: In the case of LTC ratings, a positive correlation was observed with overall medical usage. In terms of LTC benefit usage characteristics, a higher overall level of medical usage was found in the group using home care benefits. Detailed analysis by medical institution classification revealed a maintained correlation between care ratings and the volume of medical usage. However, medical usage by classification varied based on the characteristics of LTC benefit usage. Conclusion: This study identified a complex interaction between LTC characteristics and medical usage. Predicting the requisite medical services based on the LTC rating presented a challenge. Consequently, it becomes essential for the LTC group to continuously monitor medical and care needs, even after admission into the LTC system. To facilitate this, it is crucial to devise an LTC rating system that accurately reflects medical needs and to broaden the implementation of integrated medical-care policies.