• Health Policy and Management
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.228-241
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• 2014

Background: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of health insurance coverage expansion for cancer patients on equity in health care utilization and catastrophic expenditure. Methods: To analyze the causal relationship between the policy to expand benefit coverage and the change in health care utilization and out-of-pocket payments of cancer patients, this study employed a difference-in-differences (DID) method. In the DID model, the change in health care utilization, such as health care expenditure, visit days and length of stay, of cancer patients was compared with that of liver disease patients, using Korea Health Panel Data in 2009 and 2010. Results: The policy of reducing cost sharing from 10% to 5% for cancer patients did not have significant effects on equity in health care utilization. The results of this study were different from those of the previous study that showed that the reduction of cost sharing from 20% to 10% significantly improved the equity in health care utilization of cancer patients. In addition, the result of catastrophic expenditures analysis showed the policy did not change the probability of catastrophic expenditures. Conclusion: The results of this study imply that payment for non-covered services account for high out-of-pocket payments, and the reduction in cost sharing for covered services alone may have a limited effect on total financial burden on patients.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.72-81
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• 2020

Background: The out-of-pocket maximum is one of the distinctive healthcare systems which sets a ceiling on co-payment in order to reduce the burden of households from the unpredictable medical expenditure. However, this leads to an increase in the demand for healthcare services especially in long-term care hospitals (LTCHs) in Korea. Methods: This study analyzed the influence factor of medical service overuse of 165,592 inpatients in LTCHs which out-of-pocket maximum is applied, by utilizing data from the National Health Insurance Service (2016). Based on Anderson Model, the medical service overuse, as a dependent variable, was defined as long-stay admission more than 180 days at the LTCHs. Independent variable was comprised of predisposing factors (gender, age), enabling factors (income level, types of out-of-pocket maximum) and need factors (illness level, patient use of tertiary hospital). Results: The most powerful factor of medical service overuse in LTCHs was availability of pre-payment for the out-of-maximum (odds ratio [OR], 191.66; p<0.001). This tendency was found in high income level status (p<0.001). Furthermore, mild inpatients (OR, 1.50; p<0.001) which had no experience with the tertiary hospitals (OR, 2.06; p<0.001) were more relevant to the medical service overuse in LTCHs, compared to the severe inpatients. Conclusion: It is suggested that a separate standard of out-of pocket maximum with regards to LTCHs is required to secure the beneficial functions of long-term hospitals and prevent unnecessary financial leakage to achieve sustainable and financially sound National Health Insurance.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.19-29
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• 2015

Objectives: The purpose of the study is to investigate the related factors to dental care utilization, oral health behaviors, and oral health status in immigrant workers in Korea. Methods: The subjects were 504 foreign immigrant male workers over 20 years old who visited Daegu labor consultation center for oral health survey and oral examination. The questionnaire included 5 questions of socioeconomic characteristics, 8 questions of oral health practice behavior, 6 questions of dental clinic visit, 8 questions of social relations and Korean language proficiency. The question for health behavior was measure by body mass index(BMI). Social relations and Korean language proficiency instrument was modified by Seol from "Family welfare survey in Korean international marriage" and scored by Liker 5 scale. Results: The oral health examination of the immigrant workers was as follows: decayed teeth - 76.6%, filling teeth - 27.4%, missing teeth - 69.8%, dental caries experience above five or more - 60.2%, periodontal pocket tissues - 58.9%. Simplified Oral Hygiene Index was very poor and accounted for 49.0%. Dental care utilization experience was closely associated with social relation indexes including attendance in family events, household stuff help, financial help and counseling for hard work(p<0.01). Dental care utilization experience proportionally increased with proficiency in Korean literacy including speaking, listening, and writing abilities of Korean language(p<0.01). Conclusions: In order to improve the oral health condition of the immigrant workers, it is important to provide social network, Korean language proficiency support, and health insurance coverage through economic burden reduction by the Korean government.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.70-87
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• 2001

The purpose of this study was to identify health care providers' perceptions about the goal achievement and benefit/loss caused by the separation policy of drug prescribing and dispensing after the policy implemented on July 1, 2001. Uslng stratified sampling method based on the administration area, Ku, 315 physicians and pharmacists were sampled from the rosters of physician and pharmacist association in the city of Busan on 2001. There were 122 and 115 responses from physician and pharmacist sample, respectively. 78.3% of physicians and 50.4% of pharmacists evaluated that the goal of the policy was not achieved. Moreover, 75.3% of physicians and 40.7% of pharmacists did not support the policy. Most physicians and pharmacists considered preventing the citizens with drug abuse and misuses as the most important benefit derived from the policy. However, physicians and pharmacists concerned over raising health care cost that could be patients' burden. The most important physicians' benefit derived from the policy was free choice of all possible medicine that might result in effectiveness of medication. In physicians' the most important loss, most physicians worried about that breaking traditional patient and physician relationship might cause physicians' authority in treating diseases to be damaged. Pharmacists considered the most important policy benefit as hiked social status resulted from enforcement of profession due to the policy whereas they considered the most significant loss as expected financial problems of small pharmacies compared to that of large pharmacies or pharmacies adjacent to hospitals. In the current problems of the policy, physician and pharmacists blamed the government for inadequate preparations of the policy implementation. Physicians and pharmacists also considered citizens' mature attitudes toward the policy as a crucial success factor.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.215-223
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• 2012

The principal objective of this study was to evaluate the consumption behavior of housewives in the Jeonju area with respect to their use of environmentally-friendly agricultural products(EAPs) and to assess the need for EAPs in childcare centers also in the Jeonju area. Self-administered questionnaires were given to and collected from 278 housewives 42.4% of whom employed and 57.6% were unemployed. Statistical data analysis was performed on the data collected using SPSS v. 12.0. The average score of awareness about EAPs was $3.57{\pm}0.56$. The percentage of subjects who purchased EAPS was 76.3% regularly. On this group, 40.3% purchased EAPs 1~2 times in week. Unemployed housewives purchased more than employed housewives by a statistically significant margin(p<0.05). The most-purchased EAPs were vegetables. The average satisfaction score that housewives reported in relation to foodservice provided in childcare centers was $3.66{\pm}0.58$. About 65% of the respondents felt that the EAPs-foodservice in childcare centers was an important factor for them in choosing of a childcare centers. Approximately 42% of the housewives responded that EAPs-foodservice in childcare centers was needed to improve the safety of foodservice provided in chidcare centers. The percentage of subjects who wanted to expand EAPs-foodservice in childcare centers even though the parents would have to bear some of the financial burden was 42.5%. A higher proportion of employed housewives wanted to expand EAPs-foodservice in childcare centers more than unemployed housewives, and this finding was statistically significant(p<0.05).

• Convergence Security Journal
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.185-193
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• 2013

Military personnel work in high stress situations and carry great responsibilites, leaving them little time to plan effectively for their retirement; typically, they tend to assume that their employer (the government) will do that planning for them. Focussing intensely on their jobs, retirement often finds them ill-prepared, and this in spite of the recent increase in discussion in society at large about retirement and how to deal with it. Government therefore needs to be more proactive in assisting these occupational groups in their exit from the workforce, especially because, as the baby-boomers age, the rate of retirements will increase dramatically. As well, whereas in the past, an average retirement extended for roughly a decade, today, a retirement could last as long as twenty-five to thirty years, with attendant cost pressures on retirement funds. This in turn will increase the burden on the rising generation, who will have to pay for those pensions. But while government has a role to play, retirees also have to be more active in planning for their retirement, and in particular, planning for second careers, rather than simple retirement. Government can assist here by developing programs to help military personel find a second career, thus reducing their reliance on pension funds, and reducing financial pressures too. As well, such planning would emphasize and enhance self-reliance, which can only be to the good of the larger society.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.109-117
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• 2007

The construction environment has the trend of oversizing and professionalizing, the increase of the construction period, and the risk factors and the uncertain factors which are important in the construction bid. The misunderstanding and the lack of knowledge of the subcontractor result in the decrease of the profit or the deficit. In conclusion, these are supposed to give the financial burden to the subcontractor. So, it is very important to predict the construction preparation cost calculation by the risk factors in the bidding stage and to calculate the bid unit cost considering the target profit of the subcontractor in the process of the mutual agreement and performance of the contract. In these points of view, this study analyzes how the importance of the risks influencing the bidding cost calculation affect the construction cost, and this analysis can be used as the basic data to establish the suitable bid strategy of the subcontractor.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.244-250
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• 1999

This study aimed to analyze the effect of the change in CP class of a firm on the abnormal yield of its stock price. As a result, it was found that the change in CP class of a firm had an effect on the abnormal yield. That is. the abnormal yield rose when the class of CP rose while it dropped when the class of CP dropped. And it was analyzed that the class of CP in the firm in which its current net gain was great while it dropped in the firm in which the current net gain was small. And it was found that the CP class of the firm with the high debt to equity ratio rose when the CP class of the firm changed, whereas it rose in the firm with the low debt to equity ratio. But it was found that the size of majority shareholders equity rate in a firm, the size of corporate value of the firm, the size of cash flow of the firm and the size of the burden of financial costs of the firm were not related to the abnormal yield of its stock price. This study has its significance in analyzing the effect of the information on the change in CP class of the firm on the capital market. But it has its limitations in the sample firm and the selection of the point in time of disclosure.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.44 no.4 s.316
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• pp.8-14
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• 2007

Social participation of the elderly and people with disabilities continuously becomes more active due to improvement of social systems and technological development. Various assistive systems, such as intelligence robots and intelligence home systems, have been developed to support the social participation, and obviously contributed to independent lives of the elderly and people with disabilities. These systems, however, usually require expensive special hardware. To relieve a financial burden software-oriented approaches, which utilizes existing hardware such as laptops, can be an alternative. The software should be developed considering users with physical limitation and without much knowledge of computers. This paper suggests software-oriented approaches to solve these problems and describes an actual development procedure of the software with related theories. We also introduce an unified user interface for a special work chair as a real application.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.47-55
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• 2018

The Korean Ministry of Education (MOE) required cash flow statements, instead of fund statements, as a component of the financial statements of the Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundations (IACF) when it revised IACF accounting rules in 2012. While the fund statements were aligned its accounts to the operating statements' accounts level, the newly adopted cash flow statements' accounts retreated to two levels higher than those of the operating statements. It may be resulted from the consideration that IACFs' burden of preparing cash flow statements especially in direct method. To help IACFs prepare the cash flow statements, MOE's guidance on IACF accounting rules introduced cash flow statement preparation method and presented a practical example, but it did not check whether the accounts of the cash flow statement were reconciled to the accounts of corresponding balance sheet and operating statement. That means that the guidance still lacks how to assure it was accurately prepared. Our study proposed cash flow statement preparation using reconciliation method which reconciles cash flow statement accounts' amounts to balance sheet and operating statement accounts' amounts with integrity checking and also provided a practical example by using the same case in MOE's guidance on IACF accounting rules to help IACF accounting personnel to prepare a cash flow statement efficiently.