• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.277-293
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• 1997

This study was conducted to provide basic materials required to enforce and develop welfare policies, as well as the health system, for the aged, by surveying the status of health care utilized by the daily increasing old population and the importance of receiving physical therapy. Data that need in this research was gathered from over ages of 65, during the period from Jan 4, 1996 to Jan 31, using the inquiries previously made by geriatric researchers and through literatures investigator by this writer. The data were analyzed by $X^2$, Z-test, Likert scale. The findings were as follows : 1) General characteristics of subjects. People in the age group between 65 and 69 were 55.6% and the highest number, while male were 37% and female 63%. Analysis of income group disclosed 60.6% whose monthly income, including the pocket money given by children, was less than 200,000 won. 91.1% of the elderly people surveyed owned houses; only 36.4% live with spouses; while 15.6% live alone. 2) Characteristics with respect to utilization of health care institution. 56% of the total medical institutions used by the elderly people were clinics and the rates of chronic disease and musculoskeletal disease were 73.2%. 3) Characteristics with respect to approach of health care institution. 45.1% of the respondent stated it took 20 minutes to arrive at hospital, and bus accounted for 48.6% of all transportation means used to go to hospital. 4) Degree of cognition with respect to the rights of geriatric patients. (1) There is no financial support from the government for geriatric patients(71.4%). (2) Government financial support is needed for geriatric patients(95.3%). (3) Have never been regionally surveyed or called upon for interviews with respect to treatment desire and problems relating to geriatric patients(87.2%). (4) Health and medical policies for geriatric patients must be established rapidly(98.4). (5) Expansion and construction of specialized medical facilities for geriatric patients such as elderly hospital and medical center are needed(90.2%). (6) Government's welfare policies for the elderly people is insufficient(82.0%) 5) Degree of cognition on importance of physical therapy with respect to geriatric patient. (1) Physical therapy is considered most effective in treating geriatric patients(82.9%). (2) Physical therapists specializing in only elderly people must be need of separately(76.2%). (3) It is desirable for medical specialists to visit geriatric patients at home to provide physical therapy(82.9%). (4) Hospitals specializing in physical therapy for geriatric patient are required(85.6%). Based on the result for this research, the following suggestions are presented to facilitate the utilization of health care institution for the welfare of geriatric patients. Medical facilities such as elderly hospital and geriatric patient's medical center specializing in elderly people must be constructed as early as possible; and home-visiting physical therapist system must be important to treat chronic geriatric patients; our government must establish policies to provide the old ages with means for the health care and curing chronic diseases, and carry out the plans of reasonable distribution and effective untilization of medical resources.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.157-168
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• 1995

This study was carried out, through analyzing the annual reports(year of 1973-1993) on health status of Su Dong-Myun, and specific survey data of 332 households(Su Dong-Myun 209, Byul Nae-Myun 123), located in Nam Yang Ju-Si, Kyung Gi-Do, from July 20 to July 31, 1995, to find out more effective means for primary medical care in a rural area. The results were as fellows : 1. Number of population in Su Dong-Myun was 5,419 in 1973, 4,591(the lowest) in 1987 and 5,707 in 1995. In the composition rate of population, "0-14" of age group showed markedly decreasing tendency from 43.1% in 1975, to 19.1% in 1995, however "65 and over" markedly in creasing tendency form 5.3% in 1975 to 9.8% in 1995. 2. Annual utilization rate per 1,000 inhabitants in Su Dong-Myun showed markedly increasing tendency from 1973 to 1977 such as 343 in 1973, 540 in 1975, 900 in 1977. However, since 1979, the rate showed rapidly decreasing tendency, such as 846 in 1979, 519 in 1985, 190 in 1991 and 1993. 3. The morbid household rate per year was 53.6% of respondents and the rate per 15 days was 48.2%. In disease classification rate of morbid household per year, Arthralgia & Neuralgia was the highest rate(33.9%) and gastro-intestinal disorder(19.3%), Cough(11,9%), Hypertension(7.8%), Accident(3.2%) in next order. 4. In the utilizing facilities for Primary Medical Care, Medical facilities was showed the highest rate(58.1% of respondents) and Pharmacy and Drug Shp(33.1%), Tradition Method(4.0%) in next order. In the Medical facilities, General private clinic was showed the highest rate(34.3%) and specific private Clinic(22.3%), Hospital(19.0%), Health (Sub)center(16.3%), Nurse practitioner (3.3%), Oriental hospital and clinic(2.7%) in next order. 5. Experience rate, utilizing health subcenter was 51.8% of the respondents, and it was 55.0% in Su Dong-Myun and 46.3% in Byul Nae-Myun. In utilization times of health subcenter, times-rate showed next orders such as 1-2 times/6months(31.6%), 1-2 times/year (22.1%), 1-2 times/months(19.2%), 1-2 times/3months(15.6%). 6. In objectives, visiting Health Subcenter, Medical Care was the highest rate(59.8% of the respondents) and health control(23.3%) was in next order. In Medical Care, Primary Care by general physician was higher rate(51.1%) almost all. In the Health control, Immunization too was high rate(18.0%) in health control activities. 7. The reasons rate, utilizing health subcenter showed next order, such as distance to Medical facilities(33.0% of the respondents), Medical Cost(28.1%), Simple process of consultation (10.8%), Effectiveness of cure(7.6%), Function of primary medical care(7.0%) and Attitude of physician(6.5%). 8. In the affecting factors to utilization of primary medical facilities, medical needs was showed the highest rate(29.5% of the respondents) and medical cost(15.4%), distance to medical facilities(14.2%), traffic vehicle(14.2%) and farm work(6.9%) in next order. 9. In the priority between 'daily farm work,' and 'primary medical care', only 46.4% of respondents answered that primary health care is more important than the daily farm work The 22.6% of respondents answered 'daily farm work', and the 12.3% answered 'the equal of the both'. 10. In the criterion of medical facilities choice, medical knowledge and technical quality was showed the highest rate(56.3%), distance or time to medical facilities(10.9%), sincerity and kindness of physician(9.4%), medical cost(8.7%) and traffic vehicle(6.5%) in next order 11. In the advise for improvement of health subcenter function, the 36.1% of respondents answered that 'enforcement of medical personnel and equipment' was required, and then 'improved medical technology'(25.5%), 'good attitude of physician'(14.9%), 'improved medical system'(13.3%), 'enforced drug'(6.7%) in next order. 12. The study on affecting factors to utilization of primary medical facilities was very difficult subject to systematize the analyzed results, due to a prejudice of protocol planner, surveyer and respondent, and variety and overlapping of subject matter.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.24 no.4 s.36
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• pp.485-495
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• 1991

This study examined the effects of referral requirements for insurance patients which have been enforced since July 1, 1989 when medical insurance coverage was extended to the whole population except beneficiaries of medical assistance program. The requirements are mainly aimed at discouraging the use of tertiary care hospitals by imposing restrictions on the patient's choice of a medical service facility. The expectation is that such change in the pattern of medical care utilization would produce several desirable effects including increased efficiency in patient care and balanced development of various types of medical service facilities. In this study, these effects were assessed by the change in the number of out-patient visits and bed-days per illness episode and the share of each type of facility in the volume of services and the amount of expenditures after the implementation of the new referral system. The data for analysis were obtained from the claims to the insurance for government and school employees. The sample was drawn from the claims for the patients treated during the first six months of 1989, prior to the enforcement of referral requirements, and those of the patients treated during the first six months of 1990, after the enforcement. The 1989 sample included 299,824 claims (3.6% of total) and the 1990 sample included 332,131 (3.7% of total). The data were processed to make the unit of analysis an illness episode instead of an insurance claim. The facilities and types of care utilized for a given illness episode are defined to make up the pathway of medical care utilization. This pathway was conceived of as a Markov Chain process for further analysis. The conclusion emerged from the analysis is that the enforcement of referral requirements resulted in less use of tertiary care hospitals, and thereby decreased the volume of services and the amount of insurance expenses per illness episode. However, there are a few points that have to be taken into account in relation to the conclusion. The new referral system is likely to increase the use of medical services not covered by insurance, so that its impact on national health expenditures would be different from that on insurance expenditures. The extension of insurance coverage must have inereased patient load for all types of medical service organizations, and this increase may be partly responsible for producing the effects attributed to the new referral system. For example, excessive patient load for tertiary care hospitals may lead to the transfer of their patients to other types of facilities. Another point is that the data for this study correspond to very early phase of the new system. But both patients and medical care providers would adapt themselves to the new system to avoid or overcome its disadvantages for them, so as that its effects could change over time. Therefore, it is still necessary to closely monitor the impact of the referral requirements.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.237-248
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• 2010

Purpose: The study assessed the effects of a 12-session empowering program to promote health quality of life, decision making self-efficacy, self-care competency, and reasonable medical care utilization among low income women households in one rural area. Methods: A quasi-experimental, one-group pre-posttest design was employed. A total of 28 women enrolled as medicaid recipients in the Public Health Center of W city agreed to participate. The empowering program consisted of 12 sessions addressing health education for self-care of disease, medication management, and counseling for psycho-social support. The intervention was delivered by five nurses and one social worker. Women completed a structured questionnaire measuring the study variables with demographic characteristic before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed by PAWS Statistics 17 utilizing descriptive statistics and paired t-test. Results: After the intervention, significant increases were evident in participant health quality of life (t=-5.83, p<.001), decision making self-efficacy (t=-4.86, p<.001), self-care competency (t=-8.16, p<.001), and reasonable medical care utilization (t=-3.97, p<.001). Conclusion: The 12-session empowering program on health quality of life as well as self-care competency was effective when delivered to low income women households. Further studies with larger numbers of participants and a control group are necessary to validate the results.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.107-117
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• 2008

Purpose: To investigate the utilization of medical care benefits of school personnel on duty in Seoul. Method: The subjects were 551 workers under Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education(male 301, female 250) who got medical care benefits from March 2000 to February 2005. To analyze the data, frequency, chi-square test, and t-test by SAS package 9.12 were used. Result: The results show that elementary school personnel got the highest ranking, 314(57.0%). Among subjects, 57.2% personnel got accident when they were working on their own duty, 21% during school events and 13.5% were during commutes. They got medical care from orthopedics 75.9%, neurosurgery 7.6%, dental 4%, and 8 male and 2 female died during these days. The most frequent diseases of males and female were fracture and joints related disease. The reason of most health problem was due to injury(92.3%). Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that the continuous health care services like regular health check for school personnel, or social safety network to prevent injury are needed.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.36-44
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• 2007

Objectives : There have been few studies examining the differences in health care utilization across social classes during the last year of life. Therefore, in this study we analyzed the quantitative and qualitative differences in health care utilization among cancer patients across educational classes in their last year of life, and derived from it implications for policy. Methods : To evaluate health care utilization by cancer patients in the last year of life, Death certificate data from 2004 were merged with National Health Insurance data (n=60,088). In order to use educational level as a social class index, we selected the individuals aged 40 and over as study subjects (n=57,484). We analyzed the differences in the medical expenditures, admission days, and rates of admission experience across educational classes descriptively. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to evaluate the association between medical expenditures and independent variables such as sex, age, education class, site of death and type of cancer. Results : The upper educational class spent much more on medical expenditures in the last one year of life, particularly during the last month of life, than the lower educational class did. The ratio of monthly medical expenditures per capita between the college class and no education class was 2.5 in the last 6-12 months of life, but the ratio was 1.6 in the last 1 month. Also, the lower the educational class, the higher the proportion of medical expenditures during the last one month of life, compared to total medical expenditures in the last one year of life. The college educational class had a much higher rate of admission experiences in tertiary hospitals within Seoul than the other education classes did. Conclusions : This study shows that the lower educational classes had qualitative and quantitative disadvantages in utilizing health care services for cancer in the last year of life.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.17-23
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• 2021

With the introduction of national health insurance, the burden of health care costs decreased and choices of medical services widened. However, because of the rapid expansion of non-covered medical services by health insurance, financial security for health care expenditure is still low. This gives patients barriers to choose medical services especially for non-covered medical services, and it becomes narrower. Compared to Korea, Japan has high financial protection in health care utilization, but there exists a limitation using covered and non-covered medical services both together. This is called a prohibition of mixed treatment in health care. This study reviews the Japanese health care system that limits choosing medical services and the burden of health care costs. The prohibition of mixed treatment can alleviate the out-of-pocket burden in the non-benefit sector, but it can be found that it has a huge limitation in that it places restrictions on choices for both healthcare professionals and patients.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.23 no.3 s.31
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• pp.316-323
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• 1990

To analyze of determinants influencing the utilization of the rural health sub-centers (HSCs), 116 of 144 HSCs in Kyong Gi Do, were selected for this study. The self-administered questionnaire covering the environment and the characteristics of doctors working in the HSCs was sent to HSCs by mail. 105 questionnaires were returned of which 88 were completed and use in the study. The dependant variable was the total number of medical care visits to the HSCs from January 1, 1990 to March 31, 1990. Data was analyzed by multiple regression analysis. The results were as follows : First, the more time required to set from the HSCs to nearest hospital or clinic, the higher the utilization of the HSCs. Second, the more geographically accessible the HSCs was, the more utilization the HSCs. Third, the older of the HSCs doctors were, the more utilization of the HSCs. Fourth, the higher frequency of bus service from the HSCs to town, the more utilization of the HSCs. Fifth, the more time required from the HSCs to town, the more utilization of the HSCs. Therefore, the determinants influencing the utilization of the rural HSCs in Kyong-Gi Do, are mostly geographical accessibility of medical care.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.11 no.10
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• pp.609-618
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• 2013

This study aims to identify utilization status of medical care and factors to affect quality of life in diabetes mellitus patients. The research selected 6,146 adults aged over 50, who appeared with EQ-5D, from the Korean health panel. We analyzed states of medical care utilization using descriptive statistics. Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the main factors associated with quality of life in diabetes patients. The result shows that quality of life(EQ-5D) in diabetes is significantly associated with gender, age, insurance type, education level, household income, diabetes ambulatory medical cost and the number of ambulatory medical utilization for other diseases. Females, higher age, lower levels of education, medicaid, the lower household income, the higher diabetes ambulatory medical cost, and the higher the number of ambulatory medical utilization for other diseases were the significant factors of lower quality of life. Therefore, it is necessary to develop effective social programs and individualized approach to improve the quality of life in diabetes patients. In the future, these findings can be used as important data for health care policy and assessment.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.31 no.4 s.63
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• pp.814-827
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• 1998

In this study we analyzed the insurance claims data to investigate the medical care utilization pattern of tuberculosis patients in private sector. We selected the claims of principal or secondary diagnosis with tuberculosis from claims database of National federation of Medical Insurance, from December 1995 to November 1996. Both spell-based analysis and person-based analysis were carried out. In spell-based analysis, type and location of treatment facilities, distribution of diagnoses, number of outpatient/inpatient treatments were analyzed. Additionally in person-based analysis, number of tuberculosis patients, demographic characteristics, number of treatments per person, frequency and pattern of change in source of care were analyzed. The results were as follows 1. The number of treatments with tuberculosis was 863,641 from 1 December 1995 to 30 November 1996. The number of patients was 313.964. 2. Most of tuberculosis patients in private sector were treated in general hospital (45.8%) and clinics(42.2%) 3. About 77.7% of tuberculosis patients who were treated more than two times did not change the source of care. 18,9% of tuberculosis patients changed source of care only once. Even when we limited tuberculosis patient to those who were treated more than five times and whose treatment period were longer than six months, 94.7% of patients did not change source of care at all, or changed treatment facility only once. 4. The probability of change in source of rare was higher in pulmonary tuberculosis, in twenties, and in rural area respectively than other tuberculosis. In conclusion, healer shopping of tuberculosis patients was not serious as expected. However special attention is needed to pulmonary tuberculosis in twenties and rural area.