• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.163-177
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• 2024

Background: This study aims to examine changes in fraudulent claim counts and total reimbursements before and after enhancements in counterfeit claim controls and monitoring of provider claim patterns under the "Proactive self-audit pilot program of fraudulent claims." Methods: This study used the claims data and hospital information (July 2021-February 2022) of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. The data was collected from 1,129 hospitals assigned to the pilot program, selected from the providers who filed a claim for reimbursement for intravenous injections. Paired and independent t-tests, along with regression analysis, were utilized to analyze changing patterns and factors influencing claim behaviors. Results: This program led to a reduction in the number of fraudulent claims and the total amount of reimbursements across all levels of hospitals in the experimental groups (except for physicians below 40 years old). In the control group, general hospitals and hospitals demonstrated some significant decreases based on the duration since opening, while clinics showed significant reductions in specified subjects. Additionally, a notable increase was observed among male physicians over the age of 50 years. Overall, claims and reimbursements significantly declined after the intervention. Furthermore, a positive correlation was found between hospital opening duration and claim numbers, suggesting longer-established hospitals were more likely to file claims. Conclusion: The results indicate that the pilot program successfully encouraged providers to autonomously minimize fraudulent claims. Therefore, it is advised to extend further support, including promotional activities, training, seminars, and continuous monitoring, to nonparticipating hospitals to facilitate independent improvements in their claim practices.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.92-108
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• 2009

This study suggests a model for continuing and comprehensive management of hypertension or Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Korea. Moreover, this paper computed the contribution cost of hypertension or T2DM management using the healthcare medical cost, which could have occurred from stroke, myocardial infarction (MI), and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) that were successfully prevented from the effective hypertension or T2DM management. Additionally, these costs were compared with the cost of implementing the hypertension or T2DM management model suggested in this study. This study used the medical fee summary of the health insurance claims submitted to National Health Insurance Corporation by medical facilities for services provided during the period from January 1st 1999 to December 31st 2006. The prevalence rate with treatment referred to cases in which patients submitted their medical claims at least once during the period, along with an accordant diagnosis. The incidence rate with treatment referred to cases in which patients who never submitted claims for the accordant disease during the five years from 1999 to 2003 submitted claims for the accordant disease in 2004 and 2005. The relative risk of the occurrence of stroke, MI and ESRD was 11.0, 13.6, and 30.3, respectively. The attributable risk of hypertension or T2DM for stroke was 0.730, and that for MI and ESRD were 0.773 and 0.888, respectively. Based on these, the contribution cost of hypertension or T2DM is estimated to be 986.3 billion Korean Won(KRW) for stroke patients, 330.5 billion KRW for MI patients, and 561.7 billion KRW for ESRD patients as in 2005. Hence, the total contribution cost of hypertension or T2DM to stroke, MI, and ESRD is 1.878 trillion KRW. The estimate for operational costs included an annual expenditure of 50,000 KRW per each recipient and an annual subsidy of 0.22 million KRW per person for the 1.6 million low.income individuals with hypertension or T2DM to cover their out.of.pocket medical expenses. Under this assumption, it took approximately 0.6 trillion KRW to manage 5 million high.risk patients in the low. and mid.income range, coverings up to 50% of costs. In conclusion, considering the potential benefits of preventing stroke, MI, and ESRD, the costs seems to be reasonable.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.78-86
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• 2018

Purposes: This study identifies local Chinese consumers' standard for selecting medical care provider and their standard for choosing medical staff, as well as their expectations and concerns regarding Korean medical care providers. Methodology: A survey was conducted in China, to identify Chinese medical care consumers' standards for selecting a medical provider and the factors that influence their use of general hospitals. A total of 1,500 people across three cities, between the ages 18 and 60 participated in the survey. Moreover, a multiple logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the factors that affect Chinese medical care consumers' use of general hospitals. Findings: A total of 75.5 percent respondents chose general hospitals as their most frequently-used medical provider. Those who have health insurance, visit general hospitals as outpatients or are hospitalized more frequently than those who do not have a health insurance. Furthermore, those who have private insurance visit general hospitals as outpatients or are hospitalized more frequently than those who are not signed up for private insurance. Major standards for selecting a hospital included: the doctor's skills, word-of-mouth regarding the hospital, and distance to the hospital from the respondents' home. Standards for choosing medical personnel included word-of-mouth regarding the medical team, recommendations from family members or acquaintances, and medical team's notoriety. Friends and neighbors, family members, television and other media outlets were the channels for acquiring information on a hospital. It was found that Chinese people mostly visit the cardiovascular department of Korean hospitals for treatment. For using Korean hospitals in China, the majority of respondents answered that they were concerned about the cost. Practical Implications: Backed by highly skilled medical experts and cutting-edge technology, Korean medical care providers are attempting to enter China's medical care market. To succeed in China's medical care market, it is vital to conduct a clear and precise analysis.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.29-48
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to analyze medical expenses by decedents in their last year of life and compare them with those by survivors during the year 2008. This study is conducted firstly in Korea, except some studies focusing on medical cost of decedents from specific diseases. To study this, national health insurance(NHI) claims data was used with medicaid claims data. The study group(decedents) was selected from the insurance entitlement file who were dropped out from January to December of 2008. The control group(survivors) was selected from the entitlement file by stratified sampling with keeping age-sex composition of the study group. The medical expenses of decedents during one year before death were measured and compared with those of survivors by sex and age. And the medical expenses were analyzed by causes of death, and also the expenses were examined by each item of medical services. On average, the medical expense amounted to 11 million Korean Won per decedent during their last year of life in 2008. The medical expense per decedent was 9.3 higher than that of survivor. The death-related expense of under the age 35 was about 16 million Won, compared with 4 million Won in the case of over the age 95, in average. The death-related expense is higher in younger ages. This means that more medical resources are put in to save life in younger ages. Total death-related expenditure took 8.3 percent in total NHI expenditures. Of the death-related medical expenses, the largest one was injection-related cost which shares twenty five percent, and the second largest one was hospitalization charges, and then the third one was surgery cost. The results of this study suggested that we should pay attention to the medical expenses in the last of year of life when we study health care expenditure in Korea. In addition, we have to deliberate health care policy to cope with medical expenditures before death in more efficient way.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.504-516
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• 2018

Many countries have tried to reform financing systems toward UHC and paid attention to the function of strategic purchasing. This study was performed to examine theoretical foundations and the function of strategic purchasing. And we examined the functions of strategic purchasing in Korea based on the framework proposed by Preker(2005). For this purpose, we reviewed literature related to purchasing. we defined the strategic purchasing as strategic activities to provide health care services people need within a given budget, which is carried out by certain organizations, purchasing organizations. These activities include selecting appropriate providers, designing and operating the payment system, setting the price, and determining the target populations and their needs etc. The relationships among government, purchasers and healthcare providers can be explained by the principal-agent theory. In addition to Preker's framework, we emphasized the importance of the infrastructure such as decision making support systems, information systems, health care resource management systems, or expenditure monitoring systems. The National Health Insurance Service and the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service play major roles in performing strategic purchasing.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.105-116
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• 2021

Objectives Lumbar herniated intervertebral disc (L-HIVD) is common disease in which Western-Korean collaborative treatment is performed in Korea. This study aimed to analyze Western-Korean collaborative treatment utilization of Korean patients with L-HIVD using Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service's Patients Sample Data. Methods This study used the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service-National Patient Sample (HIRA-NPS) in 2018. Claim data of L-HIVD patients were extracted. The claim data were rebuilt with the operational concept of 'episode of care' and divided into Korean medicine episode group (KM), Western medicine episode group (WM) and collaborative treatment episode group (CT). General characteristics, medical expenses and healthcare utilization were analyzed. In addition, the difference of average visit day and average medical expenses between non-collaborative group (KM plus WM) and CT were analyzed by the propensity score matching method. Results A Total of 64,333 patients and 365,745 claims were extracted. The number of episodes of WM, KM and CT was 69,383 (92.97%), 3,903 (5.23%), and 1,341 (1.80%) respectively. The frequency of collaborative treatment episode was higher in women and the age of 50s. The most frequently described treatment in CT was acupuncture therapy. As a result of the propensity score matching, the number of visit days and medical expenses in the collaborative treatment group was higher than in the non-collaborative group. Conclusions The analysis of healthcare utilization of Korean-Western collaborative treatment may be used as basic data for establishing medical policies and systematic collaborative treatment model in the future.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.121-139
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• 2009

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to investigate regional commitment index(RGI) of hospital in Korea, and the relationship RGI and hospital characteristics, such as foundation, region, size. Therefore, we are to suggest fundamental information to make and evaluate healthcare resource policy in hospital- and government-level. Methods : The 'Patient Survey 2002(administered by Ministry of Health and Social Welfare(MOHW)' was analyzed. We selected the patient data of the hospitals above 100 beds. Then, we calculated the RGI, number of same cases divided by all cases in each hospital. By using SPSS/win ver 14.0, statistical analysis such as t-test, ANOVA, correlational and regression analysis was carried out. Results : The results are as follows. 1. Overall mean and standard deviation of RGI were revealed as 0.805${\pm}$0.225 in inpatients, and 0.871${\pm}$0.184 in outpatient. The median of inpatients' and outpatients' RGI were 0.890 and 0.933. The RGI of inpatients of private hospitals were revealed significantly higher than that of the public(public: 0.727, private: 0.822). However, outpatients' RGI was not revealed as significantly different. 2. The RGI of general specialty hospitals were significantly lower than others, therefore we could think that more inpatients and outpatients of general specialty hospitals flowed in from others province or metropolitan cities than other hospital types. 3. The RGI of hospitals holding above 400 beds were significantly lower than others in inpatients and outpatients. 5. The RGI of hospitals were significantly different among sixteen province and metropolitan cities. The RGI inpatients of Gwangju and Daejon metropolitan city were lowest sub-group(0.659, 0.664), and the RGI inpatients of Jeju was revealed as highest, 0.979. 6. Available beds, total doctors, and total employees were negatively correlated with RGI of inpatients and outpatients. 7. The significant influencing factors to RGI of inpatients and outpatients were appeared samely such as available beds, wide healthcare region, hospital size, and foundation type. Conclusions : It is considered that RGI of hospital represent competitive power in healthcare market. Also, the competitive advantage and quality of hospital clustered by characteristics could made out by RGI. Therefore, the results of this study would be useful to develop and evaluate hospital policy of individual hospital or local government.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.4067-4076
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• 2015

This study aims to examine the trend in household catastrophic medical expenditure according to the healthcare coverage types and its associated factors based on the raw data of the Korean Health Panel over the years 2008 to 2011. Correspondence analysis was used to investigate the trend in the incidence rates of annual catastrophic medical expenditure and generalized estimating equation to examine the factors influencing the incidence of catastrophic medical expenditure. The annual mean incidence rates of household catastrophic medical expenditure were 25.1%, 15.4%, 10.1%, 5.4% and 3.2% in the threshold levels of 10%, 15%, 20%, 30%, and 40% respectively. The incidence rate of household catastrophic medical expenditure was higher when the total annual household income was lower, the education level of the householder was lower, the healthcare coverage type was National Health Insurance, the householder had disability, the age of the householder was older, the number of household members was smaller, the subjective health status of household members was lower, and the prevalence rate of the chronic disease of the household was higher(p<0.05). Therefore, a policy for vulnerable households with older or patient members of chronic diseases should be established.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.411-418
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to estimate the current status and trends of healthcare utilization among people with ASD. Using National Health Insurance open database, from 2010 to 2017. We analyzed the treatment prevalence for people with ASD, the pattern of healthcare utilization, the difference in medical care utilization according to age, and the type and location of main medical institutions. The main results of the study are as follows: First, the medical utilization has been continuously increasing from 2010 to 2017. The total amount of medical utilization is increased by 50% in 2017 compared to 2010, and the treatment prevalence was estimated to be 79.1% in 2017 and medical uses for the next three years is also increasing. Second, the pattern of medical care utilization varied widely according to age, especially after 20 years of age. Third, the types of medical institutions that were mainly used were 45.6% in the medical clinic and 35.9% in Seoul. The results of this study can be used as a minimum reference point of evaluating the effectiveness of government policy on future autistic disorders. However, further studies are required to increase the prevalence of treatment for autistic patients and to find out the difference in medical use according to age.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.51-63
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• 2023

Objective : This study aimed to analyze the association between lifestyle and medical expenses of older adults with mental illness using claims data. Methods : We conducted secondary data analysis using the older adult cohort database provided by the Korea National Health Insurance Service. The lifestyle and medical expense variables were extracted from the cohort database. We used a generalized linear model to examine the association between lifestyle and medical expenses. Results : In total, 32,853 records were extracted. The results showed that smokers had medical expenses (estimate = -218,255, p = .037). As the number of days of walking increased, medical expenses significantly decreased (estimate = -58,843, p < .0001). Furthermore, as the number of days of drinking decreased, medical expenses increased (estimate = 692,289, p < .0001). Conclusion : This study analyzed the estimates of medical expenses according to lifestyle among older adults with mental illness. Smoking and exercise were negatively associated with medical expenses. These results suggest the importance of a healthy lifestyle for older adults with mental illness. In addition, this study can be used as clinical evidence for lifestyle management programs to improve physical and mental health.