• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.185-195
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• 2024

Background: Disabled people have particularly restricted access to health care. In response to this, the pilot project for the general physician (GP) system for disabled people was implemented in 2018, based on the rights of people with disability to the Health Act in South Korea. However, its participants were 0.2% among the total of those with severe disabilities in 2021. Therefore, this study examined the factors related to registering with a GP and the access level to its services to suggest implications for activating the participation of disabled people. Methods: We analyzed factors affecting the registration with a GP and the number of using the services among the participants of the GP system during May 2018 and December 2021 by conducting hierarchical logistic regression and hierarchical regression. The data were linked with the national health insurance data to examine various predictors, including disability types, socioeconomic status, health status, and GP registration. Results: As a result of analyzing the factors affecting whether or not to register for the pilot project, those with disabilities (physical disabilities, brain lesions, visual, intellectual, mental, and autistic disability) eligible for disability care (odds ratio [OR], 4.157) than other disability, and those living in metropolitan (OR, 4.330) or cities (OR, 3.332) than rural residences were highly likely to enroll the pilot study. Health-related variables also predicted the registration status of the pilot project. The predictors related to GP enrollment types (membership type: general health or disability care, GP's affiliation: clinics or hospitals) significantly influenced levels of access to services. Conclusion: It is necessary to develop the GP project for disabled people by considering the variation in types of disability, residences, and health. Further study will be needed to investigate the impact of GPs on the level of participation among disabled people.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.163-182
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• 2012

This study was performed to identify the difference of the area-based deprivation and the educational level on the cerebrovascular mortality in Korea. Data used in this study was obtained from the Death Certificate Data 2000 and the 2000 Census produced by Korean National Statistics(NSO). We classified the whole country into 246 areas based on the administrative districts. Then, the Standardized Mortality Ratio (SMR) in cerebrovascular disease was calculated according to the sex, education level and 246 areas. Its Predicted SMR was calculated by the Empirical Bayes Methods to reduce the variation of the SMR values. The area-based deprivation of 246 areas were measured using the modified Carstairs index in which the 5 indicators consisted of overcrowding, the unemployment ratio of men, the percentage of households classified low social class, the percentage of non home owners, and finally those houses lacking basic amenities. The correlation between the area-based deprivation and the SMR of the whole country and the correlation between the area-based deprivation and the SMR of each metropolitan cities or provinces was analyzed by the Pearson correlation analysis method. After classifying the deprivation of 246 areas into 5 levels, we performed the random intercept Poisson regression analysis after adjusting education level and age using Empirical Bayes Method to investigate the relationship between the 5 deprivation levels and the cerebrovascular mortality. The SMR was increased in lower education level. Each 246 areas had different values in SMR, Predicted SMR and area-based deprivation. The area-based deprivation and the SMR of the whole country was not correlated in both sexes. The education level of an individual was associated the risk of cerebrovascular mortality in men. The risk of cerebrovascular mortality increased with age compared to the reference(<30). The area-based deprivation was not associated with the risk of cerebrovascular in both sexes. The findings of this study suggest that the SMR had positive and negative correlations with area-based deprivation depending on the metropolitan cities or province. It also suggests that the individual education level and age were related with mortality and finally that the area-based deprivation was not associated to the cerebrovascular mortality in Korea.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.64-77
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• 1999

This study was conducted to investigate the use of medical equipment in patients receiving home care service. The subjects of this study were 88 patients cared by seven home care nursed who were registered in the Seoul Nurses Association. Data was collected from Aug. 1, 1998 to Dec. 30, 1998. The findings are as follows. 1. The sample was found to be 55.7% female : 51.7% over 65 years old. 75% with neurologic disease including CVA, brain tumor, ICH, Parkinsonism & Spinal stenosis and 78.4% living in Seoul. The Clinical experience of the home care nurses was greater than five years. 2. Medical equipment which the patients possessed were foley catheters(61.4%), L-tubes(59.1%) and tracheostomy tubes(51.1%). 3. Technical difficulties in use of medical equipment were related to home care ventilators(60.0%), L-tubes(3.8%) and tracheostomy tubes(2.2%). 4. Most of the medical equipment were obtained from the hospital where they had been admitted previously or from medical equipment companies. 5. Complications from the use of this equipment were infection through invasive techniques including wound drainage tubes(50%), and IV injections(22.2%), The complications were resolved through referral to the doctor of the hospital where they were previously admitted or through community health centers. 6. Most of the equipment was disposable, and equipment was disinfected by using various methods including boiling and soaking in antiseptic solutions. These findings suggest that consistant policy on the management of medical equipment is necessary for the safety of home care patients.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.43-75
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• 2002

This study focuses on the factors that make the financial structure of hospitals in Korea different, and on recommended courses of action that could be very helpful to hospitals in maintaining a sound financial structure. Data used in this study were collected from 132 hospitals with complete general data of present conditions as well as financial statements. They were chosen from the 174 hospitals that passed the standardization audit undertaken by the Korean Hospital Association from 1996 to 2000 for the purpose of accrediting training hospitals. The dependent variable in this study is financial structure. It consists of liabilities as against total assets (total liabilities to total assets, short-term liabilities to total assets, long-term liabilities to total assets, short-term borrowings to total assets, long-term borrowings to total assets). The independent variables are ownership type, hospital type, location, whether or not a representative is a director of the hospital, the possibility of changing a hospital director, bed size, period of establishment, asset structure, profitability, growth, tax shields, business risk, competition. The factors that appear to have the strongest impact on the liabilities to total assets of all the hospitals sampled are ownership type, hospital type, profitability, tax shields, and business risk. It was found that not-for-profit private hospitals and for-profit private hospitals have more liabilities than public hospitals, and tertiary medical institutions have less liabilities than the secondary general hospitals. Moreover, hospitals earning more at the expense of high business risk have a distinct tendency to lower liabilities. Concerning the current ratio, it was found that factors such as ownership type, hospital type, period of establishment, asset structure, and business risk are the more significant variables. The current ratio of public hospitals is higher than that of both not-for-profit private hospitals and for-profit private hospitals, and the current ratio of tertiary medical institutions is higher than that of general hospitals. As business risk is higher in hospitals compared to other businesses, the current ratio becomes higher; this is because it is assumed that for fear of bankruptcy, hospitals lessen liabilities to total assets. On the other hand, as hospitals become older, the fixed assets to total assets become lower. It is remarkable that in hospitals, the factors affecting liabilities to total assets have an opposite regression coefficient sign against factors affecting current ratio. It brings out the same results borne out by the old financial theories and researches, in which a lot of the liabilities of hospitals are considered as the cause of worsening liquidity. Therefore, it is very important for hospitals to maintain a sound financial structure in order to survive using the rational acquisition and maintenance of capital.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.17-41
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• 1992

During the month of October, 1990, 676 practicing physicians in Taegu City were surveyed by mail questionnaires about their general characteristics and the reasons why they chose Taegu as a practice location and 331 out of them responded completely. Collected data were analyzed to provide basic reference data for future health manpower policy which intends to solve the problem of geographical maldistribution of physicians, The major findings are as follows: For the question asking why Taegu area is favored, following lists are as the order of their magnitude of the reasons replied by more than 20% of the respondents: 1) Taegu is a foundation of life until now(81.3%) 2) Better educational environments are available for their offsprings(73.7%) 3) They can have intimate relationship with acquaintances or friends sharing same or similar interests(61.0%) 4) Due to characteristics of their specialty, metropolitan seems to fit better(52.0%), 5) They graduated from the medical school in Taegu(49.8%) 6) Never thought of selecting practice location in other area than Taegu without any specific reasons(45.9%) 7) Intelligent communications are available with other physicians(39.9%) 8) More opportunities to participate in social life, such as medical, or alumni association etc., can be given(33.2%) 9) No specific knowledge or relationships with other area are available(32.6%) 10) They finished internship or residency training in Taegu area(31.4%) 11) Facilitation of transferring patients including emergent patients can be obtained (30.8%) 12) Continuing medical educational programs are available(29.9%) 13) Sufficient medical demands are provided because of the large population(28.1%) 14) More chances to be grown up as a medical professionals can be achieved(25.7%) 15) More leizure time can be utilized for cultural activities(23.9%) 16) They had experiences to work in hospitals or facilities in Taegu area(23.3%) 17) Medical facilities of fellow physicians or alumni can be used(20.5%) In addition, 37% of female physicians answered that their spouse strongly influenced them to choose Taegu, and 33.3% of physicians with age of thirty replied that parents did so. Physicians of specialty in radiology, clinical pathology, anatomical pathology, and anesthesiology considered that patients from other hospitals and medical facilities would be referred often to them and that less competition seemed to be expected in their specialty (30.8%). In contrast, general practitioners anticipated that larger population would increase the medical demand(62.5%). 28.6% of medical practitioners who graduated medical schools in other are than Taegu and 22.0% of medical practitioners who were trained in hospitals of other area than Taegu were influenced to choose Taegu by their spouses. In consideration of above findings, we may conclude that long term and rational manpower policies should be implemented to solve the problem of geographical maldistribution of physicians as well as short term physician-inducing policies, and they have to be incorporated with equitable community development.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.41-64
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• 1999

The major concern for this research is to discuss and to offer some solutions to bring the effectiveness of existing notifiable diseases reporting system over the physicians' attitudes of reporting, the actual condition of performance and the reasons of inertia in notifiable diseases reporting through examining the physicians of medical institutions in nationwide such as pediatrics, internal medicine and family medicine. The actual conditions of notifiable communicable diseases(NCD) reporting was surveyed by mail objectifying an internal medicine, pediatrics and family medicine in nationwide on the basis of stratified random sampling method divided into the classification of medical institutions and areas. As a result of survey. the rate of respondents showed 145 persons from physicians, 105 persons from hospitals. 120 persons from general hospitals, and 51 persons from tertiary hospitals. The total number of respondents were 421 and was rated 59.0 %. The analysis of collected survey went through a descriptive analysis primarily to grasp physicians' attitudes on the notifiable communicable diseases reporting, and then upon the dependent variables. Following are major findings obtained form the data analysis. 1. The results of a descriptive analysis on physicians' attitudes towards reporting NCD were as follows: First, the respondents who didn't know that yellow fever is reporting NCD were 11.0% of clinic, 10.5% of hospital. 5.0% of general hospital. 11.8% of tertiary hospital. and in case of hepatitis B, were 26.9% of clinic, 35.2% of hospital. 35.0% of general hospital. 23.5% of tertiary hospital. Second, The rate of physicians' knowledge on penalties of not reporting the NCD by their medical institution were 35.2% of clinic, 45.7% of hospital. 36.7% of general hospital. 62.7% of tertiary hospital. Third, among the no-reporting physicians in whole, the major reason of not reporting NCD were uncertainty of diagnosis(78.9%), no need to report(46.4%), no adequate actions from PHC(29.1%), no knowledge of the cases being notifiable ones in the order of their frequencies(30.4%), meddling from PHC(29.1%), concerning of patient's privacy(26.3%). 2. To analyze the characteristics related to the physicians' behaviors to report NCD, univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses were applied to the variables related to physician, 4 medical facility, PHC, and reporting system. The result were as follows: First, the result of the univariate analysis on physicians' attitude to report NCD and characteristics related to reporting in odds ratio was in the case of hospital. 3.4 times higher positive responses on physicians' attitude to report NCD came up as compared to the clinic. Second, the result of the univariate analysis on physicians' action of reporting NCD and characteristics related to reporting by the classification of medical institutions showed that the odds ratio of hospital was 2.3 times, the odds ratio of general hospital was 2.0 times, the odds ratio of tertiary was 6.8 times significantly higher than clinic. And the medical institution with significantly higher positive attitudes rate by multiple logistic regression analysis was hospital that rated 2.5 times significantly higher than clinic. Also in the PHC related characteristics of reporting, the rate of action in reporting NCD was significantly higher in medical institution that were endowed with the good condition of reporting. In multiple logistic regression analysis, the medical institution that has a good conditions of reporting showed a significantly higher positive rate on the action of reporting than the others.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.139-155
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• 1999

This study was performed to assess the practice behavior and the need for cancer screening in order to design the community projects in Suwon city. A random sample of urban married women was surveyed on knowledge, attitude, and practice of breast and cervical cancer screening by telephone from April 28th to May 19th. Four hundred two married women completed the questionnaire, and the results were as follows: 1. Urban women were not generally knowledgeable about symptoms, signs and etiology of breast and cervical cancer. Only 11.4% of respondents were fully aware of those subjects. 2. Two hundred eighty six repondents(71.1%) reported having had a mammogram or Pap smear, while 116 respondents(28.9%) reported never having had a mammogram nor Pap smear. 3. The rate of mammogram increased by age and income status significantly(p〈0.05). 4. The majority(73.1%) of women who had a mammogram reported that it was part of a routine physical examination and another 24.3% of the women reported that they had a mammogram for specific breast problems. Meanwhile, the reasons reported for never having a mammogram were as follows; never had any problems (72.1%), no chance(11.2%), no time(4.3%). 5. The main factors associated with adherence to mammography screening guidelines was monthly income status. 6. The majority(80.6%) of women who had a Pap smear reported that it was part of a routine physical examination and another 16.0% of the women reported that it was part of a routine physical examination and another 16.0% of the women reported that they had a Pap smear for specific uterus problems. Meanwhile, the reasons reported for never having a Pap smear were: never had any problems(69.0%) and no chance(11.5%) 7. Women with higher income status were most likely to have a Pap smear regularly (p〈0.01), and the rate of Pap smear increased by education level significantly(p〈0.05). The main factors associated with adherence to Pap smear screening guidelines were education level and monthly income status, similar to those of mammograph. These findings indicate that married women in Suwon city show a lower rate of breast and cervical cancer screening practice than that of developed countries. The rate of mammograph was especially low. It is, therefore, suggested that cost, environmental factors, process, and information for screening tests be considered more programmatically before designing a community project for breast and cervical cancer screening.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.22-40
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• 2000

The purpose of the study was to discuss amrketing strategy for oriental hospital, by making a comparative analysis of how hospital user satifaction was affected by hospi시 choice motivation between oriental hospital users and western hospital. The data usel in this study was the Korea Isititute of oriental medicine(1999)'s study on utilization of oriental medical care. And and interview was hold with outpatients who visited around march to April, 1999, at each an oriental hospital and a westen hospital in Seoul and in Wonju city, Kongwon province. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS program. The factor analysis of hospital choice motivation was made by figuring out facor's mean value, and T-test and ANOVA were employed to find out what difference was made by sociodmographic charcteristics to the factors. Also, the multiple regression analysis was carried out to examine what gave an impact on hospital user satisfaction. The findings of this study were as follows; First as a result of making a factor analysis against hospital choice motivation to find out what kind of differenc there was between oriental hospital user motivation and western hospital and person factors. Among them, the hospital charcteristics, preception, personal and person factors. Among them, the hospital charcteristics appered to have the biggest effect of hospital choice motivation. Second, as a result of making comparison between oriental oriental hospital user satisfaction and werterm hospital user satisfaction, there was a singificant between their satisfaction at treatment time, kindness and relative kiness aginst the pther hospital. The oriental level combining 6 items. The geneal satisfaction level combining 6itmes tured out to have reliability of chronbach $\alpha$=0.7126. As a result of examining how mech the general satifaction level depended on sociodemographic characteristics, ther was found be significantly affected by age, marital status, educational background or hospital type. Those who a spouse or a lower educational background or the oriental hospital users got better score. Third, the multiple regression analysis was made to find out what factors affected western and oriental hospital user satisfaction, As a result, the waiting time, experience of other medical facilities and hospital characteristic variable were identified as a key factor on which westerm hospital user satisfaction depended. In conclusion, the oriental hhspital user expressed more staisfaction than the weshren hospital users. Then the characteristic factor played a singificant role in user satisfaction, which included hospital facilities, kindness of herb doctor and employees, or hospital reputation of credibility. in order to raise hospital user datisfaction, it seemed necessary to pay more attention to hospital characteristic factor rather than to perception factor.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.38-47
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• 2024

Background: Korea's population of children and adolescents has decreased by 2.88 million over the past decade and is expected to decline further due to the unprecedented low birth rate. In the fee-for-service compensation system, the decline in the pediatric population relates directly to the profit decrease in the pediatric clinics. This study analyzed whether the worsening profits of pediatric clinics impacted their closure. Methods: We built annual data for pediatric and other department clinics (internal medicine, otolaryngology, and family medicine) using the status of medical institute and health insurance claims data from 2012 to 2022. Then, we analyzed whether institutional variables such as annual profit and regional variables (Herfindahl-Hirschman index, the number of clinics per 100,000, etc.) affected the closure of clinics. The methods used in this study are descriptive statistics and chi-square analysis. Odds ratios for each variable were estimated by generalized estimating equations (GEE). Results: The closure rate of pediatric clinics was 2.66%-7.04% in 2012-2022, which was consistently higher than those of internal medicine, otolaryngology, and family medicine clinics. The profit gap per institution between the pediatric and the other clinics grew from 126 million won in 2012 to 245 million won in 2019. In the GEE analysis, profit decrease compared to the previous year with lower profit was the main factor that increased the closure of pediatric and other department clinics. After adjusting profit-related variables, the decrease in the pediatric population itself did not relate to the closure of pediatric clinics. The number of pediatric clinics or monopolies also did not affect the closure of pediatric clinics. Conclusion: The worsening profit is the crucial factor for the closure of pediatric clinics, while the pediatric population is decreasing. For this reason, it is necessary to actively seek ways to maintain a stable treatment system for children and adolescents.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.100-124
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• 1997

In order to suggest the strategies for participation in the PPS(Prospective Payment System), analyses were performed based on variations in utilization pattern and changes in revenues of hospitals in 10 selected KDRGs. The data was collected from the claims data of a tertiary hospital in Kyunggido from September 1, 1995 to August 31, 1996. The studies consisted of 1, 718 inpatients diagnosed for lens procedures, tonsilectomy &/or adenoidectomy, appendectomy with complicated principal diagnosis, Cesarean section, or vaginal delivery without any complications. The resources used in each KDRG were measured including average length of stay, total charges, number of orders, intensity of medical services, frequencies of medical services, the rate of non-reimbursable charges, and the rate of non-reimbursable orders. Then, the changes in hopital revenues due to the composition of medical fee schedules under the PPS were estimated as follows: 1) The variations in average lenght of stay, total charges, number of orders, the intensity of medical services, the frequency of medical services, the rate of non-reimbursable charges, and the rate of non-reimbursable orders among the 10 KDRGs were comparatively small. 2) The average lenght of stay was the longest(6.0 days) for appendectomy with complicated principal diagnosis, while it was the shortest(2.1 days) for two vaginal deliveries. Statistically differences existed in the average length of stay among physicians and among the dates of admission in several KDRGs. 3) The total charges were the highest for lens procedures(1, 716, 000 won), while the lowest charges were for two vaginal deliveries(558, 000 won). Statistically differences in the total charges were found among physicians in several KDRGs: however, there were no differences with the dates of admission. 4) The number of orders was the greatest(155) for appendectomy with complicated principal diagnosis, while it was the smallest(75) for the two vaginal deliveries. Statistical differences in the number of orders did not exist among physicians in the KDRGs. 5) Significant differences were found in the intensity of medical services, and in the frequency of medical services among physicians in the KDRGs. 6) The rate of non-reimbursable charges for each KDRG was not related to the rate of non-reimbursable orders. The rate of non-reimbursable orders was the highest(36.0%) for lens procedures, while the lowest rate(11.6%) was for appendectomy with complicated principal diagnosis. The rate of non-reimbursable charges was the highest(39.4-39.7%) for vaginal deliveries, while the lowest rate(13.1%) was for tonsillectomy &/or adenoidectomy(<17 ages). 7) If the physician's practicing style were not change under the PPS, the hospital revenuses could be increased by 10%, and the portion of patient payment could be decreased by 1.4-22.4%. However, the non-reimbursable charges for showed little change between two reimbursement systems. Based upon the above findings, this hospital could be eligible for participation in the PPS(Prospective Payment Systm). However, the process of diagnosis and treatment should be standardized, inentifying methods to reduce cost and to assure quality of medical care. Furthermore, consideration should be given to finding ways to increase patient volume.