• Health Policy and Management
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.585-598
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• 2011

This study was conducted to examine the trend of national health insurance service use with relation to pregnancy, childbirth, and the puerperium among pregnant and postpartum women older than 35 over the last decade. A descriptive analysis was conducted, using the data which were drawn from the "nationwide claim database of Korean National Health Insurance Corporation(NHIC)". Data were composed of the total cases related to pregnancy, childbirth, and the puerperium (International Classification of Disease, $10^{th}$revision [ICD-10] codes O00-O99) from 2001 to 2008. During 2001-2008, the number of pregnant and postpartum women older than 35 had continuously increased and the percentage of them also had increased in both hospital and ambulatory care. There are similar trends in their total use of national health insurance service and total expenditure. According to demographic characteristics, there was the biggest increase of the percentage in residents in large cities, self-employed workers, ones in the highest income level. According to ICD-10 codes, there was the biggest increase of the percentage in O10-O16 (oedema, proteinuria and hypertensive disorders in pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium). According to the major prevalent disease, there was the biggest increase of the percentage in O60 (preterm labor and delivery). Throughout the past decade, the necessity has been emphasized of supporting pregnant and postpartum women older than 35. But in maternal and child health care, they are in an early stage of development. The findings of this study would be helpful in developing the support programs for the aged pregnant and postpartum women.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.397-413
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the income level and the healthcare utilization by health insurance type in all cancer patients in year 2005. Methods: The target population was cancer patients with health insurance who used healthcare as a diagnosis code (C00-C97) from January 1 to December 31 of 2005. The Korea Central Cancer Registry Center's Cancer Patient Registry Data, the list of cancer patients of the National Health Insurance Corporation, and the claim data of the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service were used. The I was the wealthiest, followed by II, III, IV. The V was the poorest in this study. For the analysis, the $x^2$-test, ANOVA (and Kruskal-Wallis test), and regression were used. Results: Outpatient and hospitalization medical expenses, and outpatient visit days of cancer patients with self-employed health insurance were highest in I (p<.001, respectively), and the hospitalization days were the highest in II (p<.001, respectively). Outpatient and hospitalization medical expenses, and outpatient visit and hospitalization days of cancer patients with occupational health insurance were the highest in I (p<.001, respectively). Outpatient and hospitalization medical expenses, and outpatient visit and hospitalization days in cancer patients were higher in I compared to V, and higher in II and III, IV compared to V (p<.001, respectively). Conclusion: Supporting plan for cancer patients' outpatient healthcare utilization are necessary. Moreover, we should make specialized strategy for low income cancer patients with self-employed health insurance when we develop quality improvement policy for inpatient service.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.178-185
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• 2018

Background: We investigated association between introduction of the diagnosis-related groups (DRG) system for anal operation and length of stay. Also, we investigated how it is different among hospitals with longer length of stay and among hospitals with shorter length of stay before introduction of the DRG system. Methods: We used data from Health Insurance Review and Assessment which were national health insurance claim data. Total 13,111 cases of anal surgery cases were included which were claimed by hospitals since July 2012 to June 2014. Two-level multivariable regression was conducted to analysis the association between length of stay and characteristics of hospital and patient. Results: Before introducing DRGs, the average length of stay was 5.41 days. After introducing DRGs, average length of stay was decreased to 3.92 days. After introducing DRGs, length of stay has decreased (${\beta}=-1.0450$, p<0.0001) and it was statistically significant. Among hospitals which had short length of stay (shorter than mean of length of stay) before introducing DRGs, effect of introducing DRGs was smaller (${\beta}=-0.4282$, p<0.0001). On contrary, among hospitals which had long length of stay (longer than mean of length of stay) before introducing DRGs, effect of introducing DRGs was bigger (${\beta}=-1.8280$, p<0.0001). Conclusion: Introducing DRGs was more effective to hospitals which had long length of stay before introducing DRGs.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.40-54
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• 2023

Background: Based on the increase in the needs for convalescent rehabilitation medical services in Korea, this study aims to calculate the needs for rehabilitation services and examine its determinants for 229 regions. Methods: Claim data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service were used to estimate patients who need to receive rehabilitation services, and data from various sources were also used for analysis. The number of cases and incidence rates of hospitalization related to convalescent rehabilitation were calculated to estimate the needs for services by region, and the results were visualized via a map. Multivariate regression and fixed effects regression using panel data were performed to identify the determinants of regional variation of the incidence rate. Results: First, the incidence rate of rural areas such as Jeolla-do, Gyeongsang-do, and Chungcheong-do was higher than urban areas (metropolitan cities). Second, the population, proportion of the elder, medical aid recipients, financial independence, traffic deaths, smoking, diabetes rate, and medical infrastructure correlated significantly with the incidence rate. Third, 'rho' values which mean the fraction of variance due to individual terms in panel data regression models were 0.965 and 0.976, respectively. Conclusion: The incidence rate of hospitalizations was correlated with most independent variables in this study and there is a gap between urban and rural areas. These regional disparities are fixed in our society. An improved regional convalescent rehabilitation system is suggested to cover the entire area including rural areas with a high rate of aging.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.1-11
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• 2016

Objectives : The aim of this study is to investigate the actual condition of the occurrence and recovery of medical expenses through seafarers insurance and to provide basic data that will be helpful in the establishment of efficient hospital management strategies for medical expenses of insurance companies depending on the type of seafarers insurance. Methods : Three general hospitals located in Busan, Korea, were selected, and seafarers insurance claim data was collected from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2013(24 months) and analyzed. There were 5,490 cases in total. Results : There was a significant difference in the distribution of disease incidence, accrued medical expenses, reimbursement of medical expenses, and the actual condition of medical receivables depending on the insurance company. Conclusions : Therefore, differentiated payback strategies for medical expenses are needed that consider the various seafarers insurance companies and their treatment characteristics.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.229-238
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• 2013

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are added to different food products for a long time due to health beneficial effects on human host. LAB is applied in dairy products, such as yoghurt, cheese, and various fermented products, and also in non-dairy products, such as sausages. However, reaching the human gut alive as well as in a sufficient cell amount to exert positive health effects is still a big challenge, due to LAB sensitive character and vulnerability against harsh and detrimental conditions in human digestive system. Keeping physiological activity of sensitive LAB strains alive is for the formulation of novel food products with a probiotic health claim of utmost interest, thus microencapsulation has been applied and investigated as a promising technique for a good and reliable protection. Microencapsulation allows reduced cell injury or cell loss by retaining cells within the encapsulating membrane and can be enforced by spray-drying, emulsion, extrusion, and a range of other technologies in combination with an appropriate coating material, such as alginate, chitosan, and mixture of these two polymers. In this review, established and well-studied microencapsulation techniques with their favored coating materials, as well as the recent applications of microencapsulated LAB into dairy products will be discussed.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.142-151
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• 2021

Objectives: Although Korean Medicine (KM) subsidized by the National Health Insurance (NHI) has been used for a long time, there has been no active analysis using claims data. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the NHI KM utilization trend using NHI statistics and to measure the level of market concentration by year. Methods: By restructuring the contents of NHI Statistics for Pharmaceuticals for 2010-2019, the claim cases, costs, and annual growth rates of KM were demonstrated by year, sex, age group, region, therapeutic group, and KM treatment. The proportion of highly used k treatments in cost was calculated as the concentration ratio (CR) k and its trend by year was investigated. Results: In 2019, the NHI cost on KM amounted to ₩38.2 billion KRW, increasing by 11.6% per year on average in 2010-2019. Notably, KM was used more frequently among women and patients aged ≥ 65 years, and the mixed formulation accounted for 95% of the total cost of KM. The CR of the simple formulation increased rapidly, whereas that of the mixed formulation remained constant. In 2019, three simple formulation treatments- peony, licorice, and ginseng- accounted for 93.8% of the total cost for KM (CR3 = 93.8%). Conclusion: NHI KM is rapidly increasing. Investigating the CR of KM confirmed that KM prescriptions have been concentrated in small numbers over the past 10 years.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.237-244
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• 2019

Background: Weekend admission is known for having association with increased mortality attributed by poor quality of care and severe patients. We investigated the association between hospital admission on weekends and the in-hospital mortality rates of patients with cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, we examined this association stratified by admission via emergency room or not. Methods: We analyzed claim data provided by the Health Insurance Review & Assessment in 2013. In total, 80,817 cardiovascular patients were included in this study, which treated in-hospital mortality (early and during total length of stay) as a dependent variable. A generalized linear mixed effects model was used. We conducted subgroup analyses stratified by admission via emergency room or not. Results: Patients who admitted on weekend showed higher in-hospital mortality both early (odds ratio [OR], 1.48; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.23-1.78) and during total length of stay (OR, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.02-1.33) compared to those admitted on weekdays. Patients who were admitted to the hospital on a weekend by emergency room were more likely to experience early in-hospital mortality compared to those admitted on weekdays. Furthermore, we found that patients not admitted to the hospital through the emergency department were more likely to experience both early and total length of stay in-hospital mortality. Conclusion: Our study shows higher in-hospital mortality rates for cardiovascular patients admitted on weekends. Efforts to improve the quality of care on weekend are important to mitigate the 'weekend effect' and improve patient outcomes.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.123-133
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• 2009

Background : The principal diagnosis has been used in many different fields such as hospital statistics, medical research, insurance claim, national health statistics and so on. Some principal diagnoses have a relatively low level of reliability in the medium-sized hospitals. The purpose of this study is to identify the reliability level of principal diagnoses and to suggest ways to improve reliability of the principal diagnosis. Method : Data were collected from a medium-sized hospital located in Pusan. The discharge summaries on 323 patients who were discharged in January, 2008 and the outpatient summaries on 251 patients who visited the hospital on March 28, 2008 were collected, and descriptive analysis was performed using SPSS version 12.0K. Result : The findings are the followings: (1) the diagnostic consistency rate between medical records and doctors' was 92.0%; (2) the diagnostic consistency rate between medical records and insurance claims was 86.1%; (3) the diagnostic consistency rate between doctors' diagnoses and insurance claims was 80.2%. The evidence seems to indicate that some principal diagnoses have reliability problems in the medium-sized hospitals. Conclusion : The results of this study suggest the followings: (1) employees should be trained and supervision of hospital activities are needed; (2) network systems should be constructed for each department; (3) professions need to be fostered (4) doctors' awareness of medical records should be changed.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.11 no.10
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• pp.593-608
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• 2013

According to increasing number of injury claims, the challenge is reducing investigation of cases of injuries by selecting them more delicately, while also increasing the redemption rates and the amount of restitution. In this regards, we developed the fraud detection model for injury claims of self-employed insured by using decision tree after collecting medical claim data from 2006 to 2011 of the National Health Insurance in Korea. As a result of this model, subject types were classified into 18 types. If applying these types to the actual survey compared with if not applying, the redumption collecting rate will be increasing by 12.8%. Also, the effectiveness of this model will be maximize when the number of claims handlers considering their survey volume and management plans are examined thoroughly.