• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.52-70
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• 2009

This study is to analyse the reimbursement prices of drugs in Japan. Japan has the world's second-largest pharmaceutical market, and the world's largest price-controlled pharmaceutical market. The reimbursement prices of new drugs in Japan are determined by confidential negotiations between the manufacturer and the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare. Pharmaceuticals account for a larger share of total healthcare expenditures in Japan than in most other major pharmaceutical markets such as France, Germany, United Kingdom and United States. Prescription drugs' share of total healthcare spending has slightly increased in recent years, from 20.2% in 2000 to 21.5% in 2004, the most recent year for which data are currently available. This trend is attributable to the effect of the Japanese rapidly aging population that stimulates demand for healthcare services. There are several method of price setting for drugs as below. First, on the initial pricing of branded drugs, is the similar-efficacy pricing method and cost calculation method. Second is postmarketing price changes which are biennial price revisions under the rule of National Health Insurance. Third is the rule of the generics price. Recently, the generics market is expanded because there are increasing numbers of hospitals by DPCs(Diagnosis-procedure Combinations).

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.83-105
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to make managerial information regarding outsourcing more concrete by identifying and evaluating how outsourcing as an useful strategic tool for hospitals influences organizational effectiveness. The survey was performed to 311 general hospitals and tertiary hospitals, and 63 questionnaires were recovered and analyzed. As the result of measuring organizational effectiveness after introduction of outsourcing, non-financial performance(3.34) was higher than financial performance(3.25) and satisfaction(3.08). According to the characteristics of organizational structure, financial performance showed statistically significant difference when categorizing the hospitals. It was higher in the general hospitals than in the tertiary hospitals. In addition, the hospitals that outsource the logistic and patient affairs parts have higher financial performances than non-financial ones. Especially, there was statistically significant difference depending on the sub-parts of the logistics, which means the hospitals outsourcing the logistic part have higher financial performance than the hospitals without outsourcing the logistics.

• Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.185-196
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• 2018

This study investigates the social network among authors to improve the quality of Panel researches. Korea Health Panel (KHP), implemented by the collaborative work between KIHASA (Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs) and NHIC (National Health Insurance Service) since 2008, provides a critical infrastructure for policy making and management for insurance system and healthcare service. Using bibliographic data extracted from academic databases, eighty articles were extracted in domestic and international journals from 2008 to 2014, April. Data were analyzed by NetMiner 4.0, social network analysis software, to identify the extent to which authors are involved in healthcare use research and the patterns of collaboration between them. Analysis reveals that most authors publish a very small number of articles and collaborate within tightly knit circles. Centrality measures confirm these findings by revealing that only a small percentage of the authors are structurally dominant, and influence the flow of communication among others. It leads to the discovery of dependencies between the elements of the co-author network such as affiliates in health panel communities. Based on these findings, we recommend that Korea Health Panel could benefit from cultivating a wider base of influential authors and promoting broader collaborations.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.178-184
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• 2020

Background: Korea set up a new diagnosis-related group as a demonstration project in 2009. The new diagnosis-related group was reformed in 2016. The main purpose of the study is to identify the effect of reform on coverage of national health insurance. Methods: This study collected inpatient data from a hospital that contains medical information and cost from 2015 July to 2016 June. The dependent variable was the coverage of national health insurance. The dependent variable was divided by total, internal medicine partition, surgical partition, and psychiatric partition. To analyze the effect of the reform, this study conducted an interrupted time series analysis. The final sample included 23,695. Results: The health insurance coverage of internal medicine has the highest, followed by surgery and psychiatry. The health insurance coverage of bundle payment is higher than that of unbundled payment. The proportion of bundled payment and non-benefit decreased and the proportion of unbundled payment increased. The coverage of national health insurance significantly increased after policy reform in internal medicine partition (p-value=0.0356). Conclusion: The results of the study imply that policy reform enhanced the coverage of national health insurance in internal medicine. The government needs to monitor side effects such as an increase of unbundled payment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.81 no.5
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• pp.1024-1037
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• 2020

The resource-based relative value scale (RBRVS) compares the value of a medical practice to the consumption of resources, which consist of the work of the physician, practice expenses, and professional liability insurance. At the time of the 2nd revision of RBRVS, the fee for radiological examinations had been reduced due to the high preservation rate. In RBRVS, practice expenses account for most of the compensation of radiological examinations, and physicians' work is relatively undervalued. A new healthcare policy (Moon Jae-In care) consists of the expansion of the National Health Insurance (NHI) coverage, reduction of patient charges for the vulnerable class, and support for catastrophic medical expenses. However, Moon Jae-In care is expected to negatively affect the NHI in Korea financially. The expansion of the insurance coverage for ultrasonography and MRI examinations is a significant part of the Moon Jae-In care, and radiological societies should establish fair compensations for physicians' work within the field of radiology while implementing the Moon Jae-In care.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.173-218
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• 2018

This study focuses on the healthcare sector in Vietnam which is promoting universal health insurance for the achievement of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) under Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics of the reform process of the health care system and the law on health insurance through the historical and cultural contexts and its implications from the perspective of development. Based on the three dimensions of UHC - extension of protection for population, provision of various medical services, and financial protection, the current status of the Vietnam healthcare sector is summarized respectively as follows. First, according to the revised Health Insurance law which came into effect in 2015, the mandatory health insurance premiums are calculated based on household units. Second, there is a medical network that can provide preventive and healthcare services centered on primary health care facilities, for example commune health stations (trạm y $t{\hat{e}}$ $X{\tilde{a}}$). Third, out-of-pocket expenditure is still a large proportion although public spending has increased and private spending has decreased since the enforcement of the health insurance law and various schemes. Vietnam is currently striving towards a universal health care system. The development of institutions and systems should be designed in a way that is appropriate for the members of the society rather than efficiency. This article findings shed light on the role of social values, family culture, and informal institutions.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.24 no.11
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• pp.1049-1051
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• 2023

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.170-186
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• 2013

As the population is getting older, medical expenses amount of the whole is keep increasing. So, the pressure of the finances, Health Insurance, Medical Care Assistance Act and etc, is getting higher. The share of healthcare-expense is increasing due to elderly illness. And it became a social problem; we analysed present state of senior healthcare in South Korea-looked into current laws and policies, and found problems. We tried to suggest improvements that drew from the current state of foreign country senior healthcare of those problems. For the result, we found the problem in relevant-law system of senior healthcare guarantee. In this study, we proposed the ways to qualitatively upgrade of medical standard that considered on elderly' features: the strengthened guarantee for healthcare, financial secure for long-term convalescence benefit, linking and functional reinforcement for elderly welfare and long-term convalescence insurance, the solution for overlapped laws about convalescence in long-term convalescence insurance and elderly welfare, a betterment of grading, and a home service consolidation. We need to secure right amount of emergency medical service budget, and effective management system for the improved level of senior severely emergency medical service. Furthermore, we suggested that South Korea needs to legislate [The Law for Senior Medical Secure] to respond to rapidly increasing senior healthcare fee.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.415-426
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• 2012

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate trends in home-visit nursing care by agencies' characteristics under the national long-term care insurance system. Methods: Cochran-Mantel-Haenzel tests were conducted, using data drawn from the nationwide long-term care insurance claim database of the Korean National Health Insurance Corporation from 2009 to 2011. Results: The number of home-visit nursing care agencies has decreased continuously since 2009. There were also similar trends in the total amount of service provided by home-visit nursing care agencies, the number of recipients, the number of employees, and payments. This study showed that there were statistically significant differences in the trends in home-visit nursing care by agencies' characteristics. Despite the overall downward trend, there were some increases in the percentage of home-visit nursing care provided by agencies which were established by individuals, located in large cities, and which combined home-visit care with home-visit bathing. Conclusion: Home-visit nursing care agencies are responsible for providing community-based healthcare services. For past three years, however, they have not been utilized to their full potential. Understanding the trends in home-visit nursing care by agencies' characteristics is important to develop utilization strategies for home-visit nursing care.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.11-28
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• 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to derive implication on the adoption of PROMs (Patient-Reported Outcome Measures) to improve quality of care in South Korea. With this purpose, the paper examines the status of PROMs in South Korea and other countries including OECD's PaRIS (Patient Reported Indicators Survey) initiative, and reviews policy cases that have adopted PROMs to improve performance of healthcare system. Methods: We conducted literature review on OECD reports on PaRIS, peer-reviewed journals, and information from the websites of relevant institutions such as ICHOM, NQF and OECD. Results: To identify healthcare services of best values and support patient-centered health system, OECD has initiated PaRIS which develops, collects and analyzes patient-reported indicators for cross-countries comparison. PaRIS is implemented on two work streams: 1) collect, validate and standardize PROMs in the areas where patient-reported indicators already exist such as breast cancers, hip and knee replacement, and mental conditions, 2) develop a new international survey on multiple chronic conditions. Countries like England, U.S., Sweden and Netherlands use PROMs for measuring performance of hospitals and performance evaluation at the national level, and provide the financial incentives for reporting PROMs. Conclusions: The use of PROMs can support the current policy agenda that is the patient-centered healthcare system which has been emphasized to reinforce the primary and the community-based care. For the use of PROMs, it is recommended to actively participate in PaRIS initiative by OECD, select appropriate instruments for PROMs, and continue on standardization of them. This will assure patients' involvement in improving health system performance, systemize information generated in the process of adopting PROMs, and develop a system to evaluate performance.