• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.221-228
• /
• 2015

Background: This study explored the relationship between hospital resources and services uses in outpatient/inpatient-based hospital service area (HSA) in Korea. Methods: Study hospitals included all acute care hospitals except tertiary hospitals. Inpatient and outpatient hospital claims from the Korean National Health Insurance (NHI) program in 2010 were used to identify the service uses. Hospital resources and the degree of insurance premium in study areas were identified with the NHI corporation data. Study variables were computed by summing the service uses or hospital resources of study hospitals in each HSA. Service uses were represented by the total medical charges and number of visits/inpatient days. Hospital resources were measured by number of beds, number of doctors, and number of computed tomography (CT). The economic status of NHI enrollees in each HSA was controlled by the average monthly premium of NHI program per household in each HSA. The degree of using local hospitals was controlled with the localization index. Results: Analysis results showed that hospital resources such as beds, CT were statistically related to the service uses. And also localization index was found to have positive significant relationships with service uses. Conclusion: Hospital resources such as beds, CT had not only positive impacts on inpatient service uses, but also influences on the outpatient setting. Health policy makers will require monitoring and assessing the hospital resources in Korea.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.343-351
• /
• 2016

Background: This study aims to analyze the effects of insurance types on the medical service uses for heart failure inpatients using propensity score matching (PSM). Methods: 2014 National inpatient sample based on health insurance claims data was used in the analysis. PSM was applied to control factors influencing the service uses except insurance types. Negative binomial regression was used after PSM to analyze factors that had influences on the service uses among inpatients. Subjects were divided by health insurance type, national health insurance (NHI) and medical aid (MA). Total charges and length of stay were used to represent the medical service uses. Covariance variables in PSM consist of sociodemographic characteristics (gender, age, Elixhauser comorbidity index) and hospital characteristics (hospital types, number of beds, location, number of doctors per 50 beds). These variables were also used as independent variables in negative binomial regression. Results: After the PSM, length of stay showed statistically significant difference on medical uses between insurance types. Negative binomial regression provided that insurance types, Elixhauser comorbidity index, and number of doctors per 50 beds were significant on the length of stay. Conclusion: This study provided that the service uses, especially length of stay, were differed by insurance types. Health policy makers will be required to prepare interventions to narrow the gap of the service uses between NHI and MA.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.31 no.3
• /
• pp.344-354
• /
• 2021

Background: The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of national health insurance coverage of Chuna therapy in April 2019 on the costs and service uses in automobile insurance. Methods: This study used the claim data from Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. A total of 189,912 inpatients and 1,550,497 outpatients who received Chuna therapy covered by automobile insurance in oriental medical institutions were included. The analysis period was from July 2018 to December 2019, and a total of 18 months before and after April 2019, when Chuna therapy was covered by national health insurance. Interrupted time series analysis was applied to analyze the impact on the costs and service uses of Chuna therapy in automobile insurance before and after April 2019. Results: From July 2018 to December 2019, for 189,912 inpatients the cost and the number of times for Chuna therapy per capita were increased by 22.0% and decreased by 7.3% respectively right after the implementation of the policy. In the case of 1,550,497 outpatients, the cost of Chuna therapy per capita tends to be increased by 0.4% in overall study periods and increased 28.4% immediately after the implementation of the policy. Meanwhile, the number of times and visits for Chuna therapy per capita tends to be increased by 0.4% in overall study periods but decreased by 0.4% after the implementation of the policy. Conclusion: Results suggest that if the national health insurance coverage of oriental medicine services increases according to the policy stance for benefit expansion in national health insurance, the criteria for providing national health insurance benefits should be considered with the comprehensive impacts on the costs and service uses of automobile insurance.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.31 no.3
• /
• pp.301-311
• /
• 2021

Background: This study purposed to analyze the relationship between the local extinction index and medical service uses of chronic diseases. The local extinction index is an indicator of the demographic structure and population aging of the region. Methods: The 2014-2018 statistics of National Health Insurance Corporation and Korean Statistical Information Service data were used for the analysis. First, descriptive statistics were used to analyze the general status of research variables. Second, a panel analysis was performed to analyze the relationship between the local extinction index and medical service uses of chronic diseases (hypertension, diabetes mellitus, periodontal disease, arthritis, mental health, epidemic disease, liver disease). Medical service uses were measured by the number of visits/inpatient days and medical charges of seven chronic diseases. Results: Panel analysis results showed that higher local extinction risks (meaning lower local extinction index) had a positive relationship with the number of visits/inpatient days and medical charges of chronic diseases. But the relationships were varied when the seven chronic diseases were analyzed separately. Conclusion: This study showed a significant relationship between the local demographic structure and medical service uses of chronic disease. Analyzing the local demographic structure will be an essential prerequisite step for implementing appropriate regional health care policies.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.71-82
• /
• 2016

Objectives : This study purposed to analyze the productivity trends of regional health care resource uses in South Korea. Methods : Data was provided from the regional health care statistics by the National Health Insurance Service(NHIS) and collected from 2011 to 2014 at the 226 administrative regions such as Si(city in Korean), Gun(county in Korean), Gu(district in Korean). Productivity trend was analyzed with Malmquist Productivity Index(MPI). Input variables were the number of medical personnels, facilities, and major medical equipments. Output variables were the number of inpatient and outpatients in model A, and the amount of inpatient and outpatient reimbursements in model B. Results : In model A, the productivity of 62 regions were increased but it was decreased in 164 regions. In model B, the productivity of 123 regions were increased but it was decreased in 123 regions. Conclusions : If these trends were continued, there will be problems with the efficiency of national regional healthcare resource utilization. Health policy makers will require to focus in solving this phenomenon.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.49 no.sup1
• /
• pp.14-19
• /
• 2016

Background: This study uses the relevance index to understand the condition of regional medical service use for cardiovascular surgery and to identify the medical service use imbalance between regions. Methods: This study calculated the relevance index of 16 metropolitan cities and provinces using resident registration address data from the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs and the 2010-2014 health insurance, medical care assistance, and medical benefits claims data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. We identified developments over the 5-year time period and analyzed the level of regional imbalance regarding cardiovascular surgery through the relative comparison of relevance indexes between cardiovascular and other types of surgery. Results: The relevance index was high in large cities such as Seoul, Daegu, and Gwangju, but low in regions that were geographically far from the capital area, such as the Gangwon and Jeju areas. Relevance indexes also fell as the years passed. Cardiovascular surgery has a relatively low relevance index compared to key types of surgery of other fields, such as neurosurgery and colorectal surgery. Conclusion: This study identified medical service use imbalance between regions for cardiovascular surgery. Results of this study demonstrate the need for political intervention to enhance the accessibility of necessary special treatment, such as cardiovascular surgery.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
• /
• v.44 no.3
• /
• pp.146-164
• /
• 2021

This study examines the effects of the public's perception of emergency medical service (EMS) on the public health system's brand equity and the moderating effect of governance on this relationship using Keller's customer-based brand equity model. It uses four EMS functions: rescue/first-aid and transfer activities; disaster prevention, preparation, and response activities; educational activities in urgent situations; and medical treatment in emergency rooms to examine the effects of them on brand meaning of the public health system. Our findings are important for understanding the public as customers of the public health system and devising and/ or adapting healthcare policies and marketing strategies to develop brand equity and increase customers' loyalty to the public health system.

• Journal of Information Processing Systems
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.648-662
• /
• 2020

Bluetooth low energy (BLE) beacon is an actively push-to-broadcast electronic signal and can be used for object identification. This paper uses such beacon-based identification and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies for the elder health management service system to simplify the user interfaces and steps for preventive elder care. In the proposed system, an elder's family member, caregiver, or medical worker can conveniently and quickly record daily health management information. Besides, through the statistics and analysis of the data on the back end of the system, it is helpful for the elderly to refer to the data of daily care management and future management trends. Similarly, it is also an essential reference data for system maintenance and the new preventive health care services development.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.65-78
• /
• 2017

Objectives : Obesity is a worldwide health concern due to an increasing obese population. This study proposed to analyze the differences in medical costs and care utilization between obese and normal group using propensity score matching. Methods : Data were collected from the sample cohort database by the Korea National Health Insurance Corporation. Propensity score matching(PSM) was applied to control selection bias, and factors affecting obesity were used as covariates in PSM. Results : The results showed higher medical costs and care utilization in the obese group than the normal group. According to gender and medical type, there were differences in the relationships between obesity and medical charges and utilization. In particular, the differences in the female population were larger in both outpatients and inpatients than the male population. Conclusions : It is important to manage obesity, because obesity has a negative effect on national health insurance costs. These findings suggest directions for future research.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
• /
• v.17 no.8
• /
• pp.81-90
• /
• 2012

For digital TV, the recommendation of u-health personalized service of semantic environment should be done after evaluating individual physical condition, illness and health condition. The existing recommendation method of u-health personalized service of semantic environment had low user satisfaction because its recommendation was dependent on ontology for analyzing significance. We propose the personalized service recommendation method based on Naive Bayesian Classifier for u-health service of semantic environment in digital TV. In accordance with the proposed method, the condition data is inferred by using ontology, and the transaction is saved. By applying naive bayesian classifier that uses preference information, the service is provided after inferring based on user preference information and transaction formed from ontology. The service inferred based on naive bayesian classifier shows higher precision and recall ratio of the contents recommendation rather than the existing method.