• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.57-68
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to investigate the current characteristics of healthcare and welfare policies in Japan focused on the related policies in 2000's. In Japan, with the perspectives of entering the super-aged society by 2005 and the movement of all of the baby boom generation into the elderly generation by 2015, more rapid progress to the aging society is expected. From this situation, Japanese government has developed diverse elderly-oriented strategies such as "structural reform of social security", "nursing care system" and "gold plan 21" in 2000's. However, most of the related researches targeted the period to early 2000's, excluding the papers about the individual policies. Recently in our country, many related policies have been developed such as the enforcement of "long term care insurance system for the elderly" by 5 year period reevaluations and the preparation for 2nd step of "Plan for Ageing Society and Population"(2011~2015). At this moment, the investigation on the related policies of Japan could give appropriate references to us, a late starter of aging society.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.312-327
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• 2021

Background: Infection prevention and control (IPC) to manage healthcare-associated infection (HCAI) has emerged as one of the most significant public health issues in Korea. The purpose of this study is to draw implications in IPC policies by analyzing the context, process, and major actors in policy development and comparatively analyzing IPC policy contents of Korea with three other countries. Additionally, IPC policies were analyzed in the context of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to provide implications for future pandemics and HCAI events. Methods: This study incorporates a qualitative approach based on document and content analysis, applying codes and thematic categorization. IPC policy contents are comparatively analyzed by adopting the concept model, developed by the World Health Organization, which consists of core components of IPC structure at the national and facility level. Results: National IPC policies were developed within a complex social and political context, through the involvement of various stakeholders. IPC policies in Korea place a high emphasis on establishing IPC programs and built environments in healthcare facilities, whereas there were potentials for improvement in policies involving patients and promoting a safety culture. IPC policies, which currently focus on general hospitals and certain functions of hospitals, should further be expanded to target all healthcare facilities and functions, to ensure more efficient and sustainable IPC responses in the current and future disease outbreaks. Conclusion: IPC is a complex policy arena and lessons learned from the analysis of existing policies in the context of COVID-19 should provide valuable strategic implications for future policies.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.288-293
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• 2018

In 1994 Korea government began to develop the healthcare industry, since then the government has tried to create opportunities to promote the industry through various political efforts and policies. The biggest achievement was attracting foreign patients from 2009 to 2016 with a cumulative 1.56 million and total revenue of 3 trillion won. But Korea still loses the opportunity to become a global leader in the health care industry due to regulations and various ideological disputes. Accordingly, it is necessary to facilitate policy understanding and present a practical road map so that Korea's healthcare industry become a new growth engine that will lead the trend of global market in the future. It also suggests a national economic development paradigm, the health economy as health and economic value are rotated through a shift in view of health care. At this point, 20 years after the beginning of the healthcare industry development, it is necessary to evaluate the related policies and discuss effective future directions. In this sense, the purpose of this study is to examine the policies and limitations of the healthcare industry by each government division, and based on it, to propose political tasks for the future.

• The Journal of Health Technology Assessment
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.88-94
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• 2018

This review aims to provide implications for relevant domestic policies and researches from Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH), a reinforcement model for primary care and its evaluations in the United States. As chronic diseases became dominant, changes in the health care delivery system in which primary care is central was required. The United States initiated primary care-reinforcing policies based on the PCMH following the increased demand for evidence-based health care policies. The current activities of the United States such as sharing research tools used to evaluate primary care interventions and circulating evaluation findings provide examples to Korea. Systematic evaluations for primary care interventions are required and appropriate methods using various types of data to reflect the real-world settings should be prepared. It is necessary to conduct policy assessment studies of public interests considering regional context. Support for the researches to make and advance from the existing environment must be examined.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.13
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• pp.5265-5270
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• 2014

Background: In Korea, the National Health Insurance program has initiated various copayment policies over a decade in order to alleviate patient financial burden. This study investigated healthcare spending and utilization in the last 12 months of life among patients who died with lung cancer by various copayment policy windows. Materials and Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study using nationwide lung cancer health insurance claims data from 2002 to 2012. We used descriptive and multivariate methods to compare spending measured by total costs, payer costs, copayments, and utilization (measured by length of stay or outpatient days). Using 1,4417,380 individual health insurance claims (inpatients: 673,122, outpatients: 744,258), we obtained aggregated healthcare spending and utilization of 155,273 individual patient (131,494 inpatient and 103,855 outpatient) records. Results: National spending and utilization is growing, with a significant portion of inpatient healthcare spending and utilization occurring during the end-of-life period. Specifically, inpatients were more likely to have more spending and utilization as they got close to death. As coverage expanded, copayments decreased, but overall costs increased due to increased utilization. The trends were the same in both inpatient and outpatient services. Multivariate analysis confirmed the associations. Conclusions: We found evidence of the higher end of life healthcare spending and utilizations in lung cancer patients occurring as coverage expanded. The practice pattern within a hospital might be influenced by coverage policies. Health policy makers should consider initiating various health policies since these influence the long-term outcomes of service performance and overall healthcare spending and utilization.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.387-394
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• 2014

Objective: The purpose of this study is to survey trend and the real state of ageing population in UK, and its charge organizations, relevant policies and studies. Background: As in other countries, UK population is ageing and people aged 65 or over account for about 17% of population in UK. Considering this ageing population, there are varying basic studies and policies for older people in UK. Method: First, the author consulted ageing and its policies in UK with some faculties in an UK university. Next, based on the results of consultation, wide literature survey was conducted, which includes papers in relevant academic journals, publications and website surfing. Results: A number of basic studies for surveying status and characteristics of older people as well as simple population trend for them have been conducted in UK. Healthcare services are free for all UK residents, and varying social care services including equipment, home and residential cares, financial support, etc., are provided by local governments. Cost of social cares is means-tested and is not free for everyone. There are a number of governmental or non-profit organizations dedicated to help older people access social care services or to financially fund research projects older people. Conclusion: There are more basic studies, and healthcare and social care services for older people in UK, compared to Korea. Application: It would be useful as basic data for establishing effective polices for old people in Korea.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.23-35
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• 2020

The development of digital technology is changing the paradigm of the healthcare industry to preventive and consumer-oriented. The combination of the ICT industry and the bio-healthcare industry is emerging as a core industry in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The Korean government has also selected the bio-healthcare industry as one of the three key future development industries. In May, the government announced its bio-health industry innovation strategy and set a goal of 300,000 employees. Therefore, analyzing the effects of employment on the related industries of the digital bio-healthcare industry is very important for the establishment of future industrial and technology development policies. The research method restructures the integrated classification of 32 industries into 34, including the digital bio-healthcare industry, using the classification criteria of the government and professional institutions, and then reorganizes the digital bio-healthcare industry into eight industries classified as one industry group. The analysis data was taken from the Bank of Korea's 2019 data. Various trigger coefficients and ripple effects coefficients were rewritten using the analysis method of the Input-output Statistics. The analysis of the results compares the employment-induced effects of the digital bio-healthcare industry and the ripple effects of related industries in production, investment and value-added. In addition, in terms of investment effect, the effects of in-house and related industries were compared. It is hoped that the results of this study will be used to establish employment and industrial policies.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.235-256
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• 2024

Background: The adequate provision of medical care relies on the availability of a suitable number of healthcare professionals. To ensure stability in healthcare delivery, it is crucial for a country to accurately estimate and address the supply of doctors. This study aims to contribute to the formulation of effective policies for securing and distributing doctor manpower, with a focus on medically underserved areas at both the national and local government levels. Methods: Employing the system dynamics methodology, this research utilizes stock and flow diagrams, including level and rate diagrams, to quantitatively analyze the cumulative structure of the doctor supply and demand system. Results: The analysis reveals a substantial shortage of clinical doctors in Gyeongsangnam-do, amounting to 15,477 as of 2021. Projections indicate a need for an additional 7,570 doctors by the year 2050 to maintain the current healthcare service level. Examination of medical treatment rights and distribution across cities and counties indicates an insufficiency in doctor supply relative to demand in the majority of regions. Alternative scenarios, such as increasing medical school enrollments and adjusting retirement ages, were explored, yet none provided a sufficient resolution to the shortage. Conclusion: The findings underscore an impending exacerbation of the doctor shortage in Gyeongsangnam-do if the existing system is perpetuated. Addressing this issue necessitates not only augmenting the number of medical school students and adapting retirement age policies but also implementing diverse strategies employed successfully in other countries. This study serves as a foundational step in informing evidence-based policies aimed at securing an ample and appropriately distributed doctor workforce for sustainable healthcare delivery.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• no.spc
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• pp.25-38
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• 2016

There are many policies around the world regarding Information Communication Technology (ICT). In 2012, the World Health Organization emphasized the strategic and integrated policy for the development and dissemination of ICT-based healthcare innovations at the national level. As technologies related to ICT are introduced in various countries around the world, each country announces policies and strategies to preoccupy these new industries. However, Korea is tied to various regulations in investment of ICT and thus lags behind other countries. Therefore, in this section, we review the present status and problems of ICT development in Korea and compare these with other major countries. Finally, we present the ICT development strategies and tasks in Korea.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.7-14
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• 2012

In this study, the status of healthcare infrastructure in foreign countries was investigated for a Korean healthcare business planning to expand its business to these countries. Countries selected and surveyed are China, India, Indonesia, and the Middle East. When the surveyors visited the hospitals, the hospital facilities were investigated and medical professionals were interviewed to scrutinize the healthcare conditions in the hospitals. Also studied are healthcare related laws, trend of healthcare policies, hospital operations, medical staffing, and global healthcare service providers. Korea has expanded their overseas healthcare market only to small-sized hospitals and clinics. In order to keep up with global market expansion in the healthcare domain, strategic marketing is required. Especially, the most important key for overseas marketing is to make a synergizing system among hospitals, construction companies, medical equipment providers and IT solution providers. For the next step, the in-depth study will be conducted through real projects in the target countries per type of business.