• Journal of Korean Academic Society of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.2
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• pp.5-18
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• 1995

While the socioeonomic status of Koreas has been dramatically increasing in recent years, chronic and geriatric diseases have also been on the rise, bringing about many changes in our health care system. The basic goals of the home health care are to reduce health care costs, to increase the attrition rate in general hospitals, and to care for patients effectively and conveniontly at home. The purpose of this paper is to review and examine the current status of the home health care in Korea throughout the reports, surveys, other informations and education system of home health nurse. We identified the various types of home health care services programs, such as hospital-based home health care operated in public sector(demonstration project) and community-based home health care in health centers or in private sector, that is, Korean Nurse Association. Hospital based home heatlh care model was established as an alternative to traditional in-patiet services. Quality assurance and client satisfaction is an important measure of care received and establishment of payment and reimbursement for home health care services is important in promotng the home health care. We found out a fee-per-visit system composed of three kinds of fees : a basic service fee(16,000 Won), a travel fee(5,000 Won), and per-service fees (variables). Like fees paid for in-patient care, insureds pay 20% and insurers pay 80% of the basic and per-service fee. The travel fee is borne totally by the insured. Home health care continues to be viewed as not only the most preferred way to provide care to clients, but also the most cost effective. Home health care is that component of a continuum of comprehensive health care whereby health services are provided to individuals and families in their places of residence for the purpose of promoting, maintaining, or restoring health, or of maximizing the level of independence, while minimizing illness. Services appropriate to the needs of the individual patient and family should be planned and provided, nursing is to be a force for positive change and enhanced the nursing professionalism. Whatever type of involvement of home health care, it is essential to remember that home health care is highly service-oriented and highly touch health car deilvery system.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-20
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• 2008

How health care providers compete and how competition among them affects their behavior are crucial questions in theory and health policy. In ordinary markets, competition improves social welfare, However in health care markets facing uncertainty and information asymmetry, competition can take the form of wasteful quality competition and result in cost increase. The purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics of hospital service markets and examine the impact of hospital competition on hospital behavior, more specifically hospital cost and the size of personnel. Based on patient discharge data of 2002 by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, and health insurance EDI claims data of 2002, this study measures the degree of competition in the inpatient service market of hospitals, using variable radius method and Herfindahl index. The result of the study shows that the hospital service market consists of on average 3.13 government administrative units(shi, gun, or gu). Compared with hospitals, general or general specialized hospitals cover larger markets and operate in more competitive markets. Nearly 60% of patients use hospitals, which are not located in their government administrative units, meaning that market definition based on variable radius is better than the conventional method of market definition based on government administrative units. The results of multivariate analysis show that competition is not associated with high cost index of hospitals. But hospitals in more competitive markets employ larger(more intensive) input of personnel per 100 beds, implying that hospital competition in Korea can have the form of quality and cost-increasing competition.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.23-32
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• 2018

Purpose: Little is known regarding the extent to which dying patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) receive life-sustaining procedures and palliative care in U.S. hospitals. We examine hospital cost trends and the impact of palliative care utilization on the use of life-sustaining procedures in this population. Methods: Retrospective nationwide cohort analysis was performed using National Inpatient Sample (NIS) data from 2005 and 2014. We examined the receipt of both palliative care and intensive medical procedures, defined as systemic procedures, pulmonary procedures, or surgeries using the International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision (ICD-9-CM). Results: We used compound annual growth rates (CAGR) to determine temporal trends and multilevel multivariate regressions to identify factors associated with hospital cost. Among 77,394,755 hospitalizations, 79,314 patients were examined. The CAGR of hospital cost was 5.83% (P<0.001). The CAGRs of systemic procedures and palliative care were 5.98% and 19.89% respectively (each P<0.001). Systemic procedures, pulmonary procedures, and surgeries were associated with increased hospital cost by 59.04%, 72.00%, 55.26%, respectively (each P<0.001). Palliative care was associated with decreased hospital cost by 28.71% (P<0.001). Conclusion: The volume of systemic procedures is the biggest driver of cost increase although there is a cost-saving effect from greater palliative care utilization.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.95-120
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• 2006

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the structure of cost-sharing for oriental medical services in the national health insurance. Out-of-pocket payment in ambulatory oriental medical care is a co-payment of KRW3,000 up to total expenses of KRW15,000, and co-insurance rate of 30% thereafetr. The empirical analysis based on medial claims data shows that the frequency of medical claims for outpatient care are mostly concentrated just below a total expenses of KRW15,000, and it decreases beyond a total expense of KRW15,000, while it rebounds between KRW17,000${\sim}$20,000. This means the current co-payment(KRW3,000) in oriental medical services should be applied up to a total payment of KRW17,000${\sim}$20,000, or the level of co-payment should be adjusted upward to KRW45,000 in order to be consistent in cost-sharing, between co-payment and co-insurance.

• Journal of Korean Academic Society of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.133-144
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• 2019

Purpose: This study was conducted to verify the effectiveness of a cost management education program, focusing on the differences between a web-based group and a mobile-based group. Method: This was a quasi-experimental study using a two-group pretest-posttest design. Participants were 74 nurses in a web-based group and 69 nurses in a mobile-based group. Data were collected between January 2 and February 10. The cost management education program was configured such that the participants studied eight modules over four weeks. The after-program post-test was conducted for one week. Results: Both the web-based group and the mobile-based group showed significantly higher values for cost management knowledge (S=5.98, p<.001 and S=2.76, p=.006, respectively). The web-based group had statistically significantly higher values for cost management knowledge (S=4,461.50, p<.001) than the mobile group. Conclusion: The cost management education program showed improvement in knowledge in both the web-based and mobile-based groups; however, the web-based approach was more effective for nurses. A cost management education program which can be implemented effectively across all range of nurses is recommended.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.147-176
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• 1997

This research identifies the most important domains in health care administration from now to the year 2005 and differentiates job skill, konwledge, and ability requirements necessary for successful management. Fellows of the Korean Hospital Association from about thirteen percents of the country responded to mail inquiry. Five of eleven domains, in order of ranked importance, were health care delivery concepts, leadership characteristics, quality management, cost/finance and human resources management. Results indicated that while a business orientation is needed for organizational survival, and equal emphasis on person-oriented skills, knowledge, and abilities is required.

• Korean Parent-Child Health Journal
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-17
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• 2003

Thus, I studied Health services supplied by local health centers and the requirements of the inhabitants visiting the health care facilities. The purpose of this study was to provide basic material for the establishment of Health care policy and the development of health care businesses. The target places for this study were 4 health centers; Chungrang-Gu, Nowon-Gu, Eunpyung-Gu, Songpa-Gu, with 509 mothers who were visiting the Centers. The question items of this study concerned a total of 124 health-related services provided by the Health Centers. The data was collected for a total of 92 days; July 1st~September 30th, 1999. 800 questionaries were distributed and 559 answered, 509 were analyzed finally. The collected data were processed using the SAS program to get mean, standard deviation, percentage. Open questions were made to reveal the opinions of mothers using the health care center. The results were as follows : 1. Among the participants of the study, 49.7% were 25~29 years of age, 84.3% were house wives by current occupation, 56.2% were from 4~6 person households. 52.1 were educated at a high school level, and 43.6% were educated at a collage level. 2. The highest percentage(53.6%) of the users were spontaneous in their utilization of health care center. The major reason for using the Health care center is that it is free to 65.8% of those covered and of low cost to 19.3% of those covered. 3. The satisfaction level of those using the health care center appeared to be generally high. The general average value showed up as $3.027{\pm}0.519$. 4. The level of recognition of the value of the heath care center services was high, particularly in the basic item of diagnoses of pregnancy, particularly in the basic item of diagnoses of pregnancy. However, the satisfaction level of health care education In pregnancy is low at 20~40%. In the meantime, the level of recognition in breast- feeding benefits is high at 76.8%. 5. The rate of realizing health care center's service campaign was generally low at 10~20%. 41.3 of the people knew the advertizing material of the health care centers. 32.4% of the people knew the advertizing material of the health care centers. 32.4% of the people knew the campaign of health care center for importance of breast-feeding benefits. 30.1% of the people knew the campaign for testing congenital mechanism disease. In the meantime about 50% was recognised the health care centers campaign for the importance and time of infants vaccination. 6. The need for enhancement of health care center services was shown to be high as $3.266{\pm}0.676$ as an average, chicken pox vaccination being the most highly requested at $3.565{\pm}0.587.$. 7. Among the open questions, the additional service to be provided were as follows ; increase of campaign of health care center services, furnishing advertizing books in public locations, providing shuttle bus service to the health care centers, extension of desire for preventative injections, rest and play areas for the children of the families serviced, consultation rooms, etc.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.335-373
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• 2014

According to one Medicare report, in the US, total federal spending on health care expends almost 18 percent of the nation's GDP, about double what most industrialized nations spend on health care. And in 2011, Medicare spending reached close to $554 billion, which amounted to 21 percent of the total spent on U.S. health care in that year. Of that $554 billion, Medicare spent 28 percent, or about $170 billion, on patients' last six months of life. So what are the reasons of this high cost in EOL care and its possible solutions? Much spendings of Medicare on End-of-Life care for the terminally ill/chronically ill in the US has led health economics experts to assess the characteristics of the care. Decades of study shows that EOL care is usually supply-sensitive and poor in cost-effectiveness. The volume of care is sensitively depending on the supply of resources, rather than the severity of illness or preferences of patients. This means at the End-of-Life care, the medical resources are being overused. On the other hand, opposed to the common assumption, "The more care the better utility", the study shows that the outcome is very poor. Actually the patient preference and concerns are quite the opposite from what intense EOL care would bring about. This study analyzes the reasons for the supply-sensitiveness of EOL care. It can be resulted from the common misconception about the intense care and the outcome, physicians' mission for patients, lack of End-of-Life Care Decision which helps the patients choose their own preferred treatment intensity. It also could be resulted from physicians' fear of legal liabilities, and the management strategy since the hospitals are also seeking for financial benefits. This study suggests the possible solutions for over-treatment at the End-of-Life resulting from supply-sensitiveness. Solutions can be sought in two aspects, legal implementation and management strategy. In order to implement advance directive properly, active ethics education for physicians to change their attitude toward EOL care and more conversations about end-of-life care between physicians and patients is crucial, and incentive system for the physicians who actively have the conversations with patients will also help. Also, the general education towards the public is also important in the long run, and easy and official advance directive registry system-such as online registry-has to be built and utilized more widely. Alternative strategies in management are also needed. For example, the new strategic cost management and management education, such as cutting unnecessary costs and resetting values as medical providers have to be considered. In order to effectively resolve the problem in EOL care for the terminally ill/chronically ill and provide better experience to the patients, first of all, the misconception and the wrong conventional wisdom among doctors, patients, and the government have to be overcome. And then there should be improvements in systems and cultures of the EOL care.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.107-114
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• 2016

Background: Over the last few decades, because hospitals in South Korea also have undergone dramatic changes, Korean hospitals traditionally have provided specialized health care services in the health care market. Inner Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (IHI) measures hospital caseloads based on patient proportions, independent of patient volumes. However, IHI that rely solely on patient proportions might be problematic for larger hospitals that provide a high number of diagnosis categories, as the patient proportions in each category are naturally relatively smaller in such hospitals. Therefore, recently developed novel measure, category medical specialization (CMS) is based on patient volumes as well as patient proportions. Methods: We examine the distribution of hospital specialization score by hospital size and investigate association between each hospital specialization and length of stay per case and hospital cost per case using Korean National Health Insurance Service-cohort sample data from 2002 to 2013. Results: Our results show that IHI show a decreasing trend according to the number of beds and hospital type but CMS show an increasing trend according to the number of beds and hospital type. Further, inpatients admitted at hospitals with higher IHI and CMS had a shorter length of stay per case (IHI: B=-0.104, p<0.0001; CMS: B=-0.044, p=0.001) and inpatients admitted at hospitals with higher IHI and CMS had a shorter hospital cost per case (IHI: B=-0.110, p=0.002; CMS: B=-0.118, p=<0.0001). Conclusion: This study may help hospital policymakers and hospital administrators to understand the effects of hospital specialization strategy on hospital performance under recent changes in the Korean health care environment.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.168-179
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• 2000

Background : Economic evaluation of clinical pharmacokinetic consultation services for theophylline, which is being widely used recently, is considered in patients for both proper care and cost efficiency. Mathods : This is a cost-benefit analysis of clinical pharmacokinetic consultation service for theophylline. Trial groups were chosen from 2 general hospitals which was performing clinical pharmacokinetic consultation- services in 1998. Control group was chosen from another one general hospital. The analysis includes 25 patients (sample patients) for trial group and 17 patients for control group. Results : On the basis of incremental analysis, it is estimated that the total (direct and indirect) annual costs of the clinical, pharmacokinetic services of theophylline for the patients in the trial group was about \65 million, whereas total annual benefits from those services was estimated to be about \551 million. The net benefits incurred to the sample patients, thus calculated, was about \485 million per year. In the analysis, we assumed that indirect benefits accruing to those services were non-existent. If that amount was included, the estimated net benefits would be much greater than the calculated one. Conclusion : We found that clinical pharmacokinetic consultation services for theophylline could produce more marginal benefits than marginal costs by those services from the social point of view. More controlled prospective trial in the future would be helpful for affirmation of the results of this study.