• Health Policy and Management
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-28
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• 1996

The paper analyzes OECD health systems from the perspective of historical institutionalism. Criticizing the dependence of Korea's national health program on Pacific countries such as Japan and the U.S., it suggests that European experiences of national health programs can be a model of the Korean health system in the future. Based on an inquiry into Italian and British cases of national health systems, the author emphasizes (1) the role of local governemts in national health programs, and (2) the integration of a national health program with public health programs.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.191-198
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• 2017

Moon Jae-in Government announced the Government's 5-Year Plan on July 19, 2017, President Moon directly announced the Government's Plan for Benefit Expansion in National Health Insurance on August 7, 2017. The main contents of the announced expansion include benefit coverage for all medically necessary services with control over non-covered service occurrence, a decrease in the cost-sharing upper limit, and monetary support for catastrophic medical costs. Although past governments have been continuously striving for benefit expansion in the last 15 years, this plan has its breakthrough aspect in that all medical services will be covered by the National Health Insurance. In alignment, there are important tasks to solve: attaining a proper fee schedule, reforming the healthcare delivery system, and improving healthcare quality. This plan is a symptom oriented action in that it is limited in reducing patients' out-of-pocket money, unlike the systematic approach of the National Health Insurance. The sustainability of the National Health Insurance is being threatened due to South Korea's low birth rate, rapidly aging society, and low economic growth, in addition to the unification issue of the Korean Peninsula, medical utilization of the elderly, management of non-communicable diseases, and so on. Therefore, the Government needs to plan the National Health Insurance system reformation including actions addressed toward medical consumers.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.25-47
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• 2005

This study was purposed to find out the difference of the accounting of practical cost between the ABC system and the traditional costing system applied in a hospital, to verified general effect of ABC. Methods: This case study deals with the method of calculation, the cost information that is produced at K hospital in Busan. To examine ABC system and traditional costing system, applying them to the clinical pathology, radiology, physics in K hospital. Results: As a result of costing analysis, it is showed maximum difference of 50% between ABC and traditional cost. compared in revenue center, it occurs the difference of 15% of them. considering the result, it is confirmed that ABC could be used as a means to offer more precise information. therefore, ABC makes possible to produce precise costing information and grasp the driver of cost, and it is possible to reduce cost effectively. Conclusion: ABC provide six benefits: (1) more accurate of service delivered (2) inproved pricing and contracting strategies (3) improved management decision making capability (4) greater ease of determining relevant costs (5) reduced nonvalue added costs.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.107-119
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• 2010

The aim of this study was to compare the carcinogen classification systems of developed countries or global organizations with domestic system under Industrial Safety and Health Act (ISHA). We selected the representative institutions which had carcinogen classification system such as International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), National Toxicological Program (NTP), Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA), American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH), and European Union (EU). We collected the carcinogen lists issued by 5 institutions, and merged by CAS number of each chemical with Microsoft Access 7.0. We found that confirmed human carcinogens, probable human carcinogens and possible human carcinogens were 34, 179, and 252, respectively. All of the institutions classified chemicals as 2 (NTP), 3 (EU) or 5 (IARC, ACGIH, US-EPA) categories based on the weight of scientific evidences for carcinogenicity and periodically updated the carcinogen list by regular procedure. However, a total of 90 chemicals could be classified as carcinogen under ISHA in Korea. There was no procedure or system which periodically update the carcinogen lists. In addition, the status of carcinogen classification according to regulation was confused. In conclusion, these findings suggest that the carcinogen classification and management system should be amended by consideration of systems of advanced institutions and the domestic regulation system.

• Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.12-26
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• 2000

In Japan, a new nursing insurance system was enforced in April 2000, where premiums were paid according to the level of necessary care. Our project, Nutrition Care and Management(NCM) for the elderly was started in 1995, funded by the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Japan. The NCM project was to provide appropriate nutrition care for the elderly and to see that it effectively functions as part of the health care services. There were 4 stages to the project : the first stage was to find out the PEM status among the elderly patients in hospital and home-care settings in Japan. The 2nd stage was to develop and evaluate nutritional assessment methods, anthropometry, resting energy expenditure measuring methods using of portable indirect calorimeter, and the convenient protein energy intake assessment methods, etc. for the elderly patients with PEM risk. The 3rd stage was to examine the effectiveness of the nutrition care plan induced of protein energy supplement and team care in improving nutrition among the elderly patients. The last stage was to develop the NCM set for the elderly patient based on the past three years of scientific evidence. it is expected that the NCM system for the elderly will provide adequate nutritional care management, improve the elderly care environment and create effective resource management.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.299-311
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• 2013

Background: Environmental hazards are responsible for as much as a quarter of the total world-wide burden of disease. Therefore, appropriate management of environmental hazards is a critical part of the effort to improve human health. This review aims to summarize current issues, topics, and programs at international institutions such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in the area of environmental health. Results: The WHO European Center for Environmental Health (ECEH) plays a significant role in implementing environmental health policies and also takes the lead in related issues in Europe. It has developed an Environmental Health Information System and environmental health inequality indicators. In the environmental health area, the OECD focuses most on chemical management programs. It foresees that air pollution and chemical risk management will become the leading environmental health issues if appropriate measures are not taken. Several topics were identified that require greater effort in Korea, including cancer as an environment-related disease, an environmental health information system, and environmental health inequality issues. Conclusions: More active roles are expected from Korea in international societies, in part because of the introduction of the Environmental Health Act of 2008, and active involvement in related activities in WHO WPRO/SEARO. Understanding recent developments and concerns at major international organizations like WHO and the OECD will assist in the implementation of effective international collaboration and the identification of a better strategies for improving environmental health performances in Korea.

• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1995.10a
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• pp.197-198
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• 1995

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.532-544
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• 2017

Objectives: Because the amount of medical waste (i.e., health-care waste) generated in Korea is rapidly increasing and social concern against its safety is widespread, a number of issues related with medical wastes are being discussed. The purpose of this study is to compare diverse medical waste management systems worldwide and propose future directions of a medical waste management system in Korea. Methods: Literature review was conducted mainly on the WHO, and developed countries such as the European Union (Germany, Belgium and UK), Japan and the United States. For these countries, the data with respect to their systems for medical waste management ranging from the definition of medical waste to the whole processes of collection, transportation and disposal were summarized and compared. Results: The terminology and classification of medical wastes were not consistent for WHO recommendation, EU, Japan, US and Korea. Comparison of the collection, storage, transportation and disposal of medical waste showed that Korea had rather stronger regulations for medical waste management compared to developed countries including Belgium (Flanders region), Germany, Japan and the US. Considering that developed countries adopt rather flexible disposal system especially for general medical wastes which pose lower possibility of infection, Korean government could consider diversifying disposal methods other than incineration. It may also be very important to try to reduce the amount of medical wastes and enough capacity for off-site incineration are secured. Conclusion: Our study of international comparisons suggests that it is necessary to continue to identify advantages and disadvantages of the current medical waste management systems and establish more effective one in Korea.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.7757-7759
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• 2013

Physicians, in order to study the causes of cancer, detect cancer earlier, prevent or determine the effectiveness of treatment, and specify the reasons for the treatment ineffectiveness, need to access accurate, comprehensive, and timely cancer data. The cancer care environment has become more complex because of the need for coordination and communication among health care professionals with different skills in a variety of roles and the existence of large amounts of data with various formats. The goals of health care systems in such a complex environment are correct health data management, providing appropriate information needs of users to enhance the integrity and quality of health care, timely access to accurate information and reducing medical errors. These roles in new systems with use of agents efficiently perform well. Because of the potential capability of agent systems to solve complex and dynamic health problems, health care system, in order to gain full advantage of E- health, steps must be taken to make use of this technology. Multi-agent systems have effective roles in health service quality improvement especially in telemedicine, emergency situations and management of chronic diseases such as cancer. In the design and implementation of agent based systems, planning items such as information confidentiality and privacy, architecture, communication standards, ethical and legal aspects, identification opportunities and barriers should be considered. It should be noted that usage of agent systems only with a technical view is associated with many problems such as lack of user acceptance. The aim of this commentary is to survey applications, opportunities and barriers of this new artificial intelligence tool for cancer care information as an approach to improve cancer care management.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.9-35
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• 2007

The Health care program in Korea has now been systemized after 30 years of declaring the inauguration of the national health insurance system by the current government. The national health care covering all Korean citizens was achieved after 12 years of implementing the national health insurance and the health care program since 1977. Hundreds of multiple operational agencies managing the insured individually had undergone the amalgamation process from 1998 to 2000, and had been restructured as one agency, the National Health Insurance Corporation. In 2003, the community/area based financial management was also merged together with the employment based financial management. The National health care system of Korea offer various merits, compared with that of other countries, such as health care provision covering all Koreans, low insurance premium, accessibility of medical services/facilities etc. However, there are still some weak features which need to be addressed for improvement; below expectation insurance cover system, mistrust on the medical services, low medical charges resulted from excessive restrictions, and unstable financial status of the national health insurance etc. Therefore, the National health care system should continue to evolve to re-establish itself as more effective national health care system by further strengthening its merits, and by improving its weaknesses; with adopting the positive system to optimize the costs of prescribed medicines/drugs, applying simpler insurance coverage system to calculate the optimum medical charges, promoting private medical insurances, and increasing insurance premium etc.