• Health Policy and Management
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.109-146
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• 1997

This study explores the feasibility of activating private health insurance in Korea. The rationale for expanding private supplementary health insurance can be found in many cases of health care reforms in the European countries. Private health insurance can not only relieve the financial distress of the government health insurance programs but also offer the medical institutions incentives to improve the quality of medical care. In Korea there is no supplementary health insurance that reimburses for various kinds of diseases based on a well designed fee schedule. Recently, the cancer insurance is the best seller in the health related insurance market. As observed in the U. S. case, the cancer insurance which pays the predetermined amount (indemnity coverage) regardless of the medical charges incurred to the patient is limited in its coverage for the insured. To provide better protection against catastrophic diseases, the government should give insurance companies incentives to develop health insurance products that cover multiple diseases rather than a single disease. Consumers can hardly understand and compare complex insurance products. To resolve the information asymmetries, the government should publish a consumer report that compare various health insurance products in a user friendly way. In the long run, insurance companies will plan to sell health insurance products that charge risk related premium only when insurers accumulate the underwriting know-hows, the government shares data on various health statistics including claims and demographics, and risk pool for high risk patients is well established and subsidized by the government.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.107-130
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• 2001

During the last year, we had a very severe situation with the strike of physicians working in medical facilities. From that time, many politicians and scholars insisted on the expansion of public hospitals to enhance the public role in the medical care sector. They think that private medical facilities work for profit motivation and that the high proportion of private to whole facilities is an obstacle to the public function of medical care under social insurance system. They found that one of the reasons for failing to prevent the physicians' strike was the high proportion of private facilities. Others insisted that the strike was not a good reason for the expansion of public hospitals. The physicians' strike was a very rare case, and it is not a good basis for generalization of the discussion of public hospitals. Last year almost all apprentice physicians in public facilities took part in the strike, and consequently the public hospitals also lost the role of public function. They view this increasing involvement of government in the medical sector as improper and the cause of inefficiencies. In this paper we review the debate over the expansion of public facilities. To clarify the debate, we review traditional criteria for the role of government in a market system and to apply these criteria to medical care. There are two traditional areas where government Is acknowledged to have a role in a market system: market imperfections and market failure. Where market imperfections and market failure exist, there may be a role for government. The justifications for government intervention are consumer protection and the existence of externalities. One of externalities is to provide medical care for the poor. The appropriate measures to provide medical owe to the poor can be sought in both demand and supply side subsidies. National health insurance is a method of demand subsidies and establishment of public hospitals is a method of supply side subsidies. Under the National Health Insurance System, the expansion of public hospitals is not an appropriate subsidy policy.

• Convergence Security Journal
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.133-140
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• 2024

The spread of Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) genetic testing, where users request tests directly, has been increasing. With growing demand, certification systems have been implemented to grant testing qualifications to non-medical institutions, and the scope of tests has been expanded. However, unlike cases in less regulated foreign countries, disease-related tests are still excluded from the domestic regulations. The existing de-identification method does not adequately ensure the uniqueness and familial sharing of genomic information, limiting its practical utility. Therefore, this study proposes the application of fully homomorphic encryption in the analysis process to guarantee the usefulness of genomic information while minimizing the risk of leakage. Additionally, to safeguard the individual's right to self-determination, a privacy preservation model based on Opt-out is suggested. This aims to balance genomic information protection with maintainability of usability, ensuring the availability of information in line with the user's preferences.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.97-106
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• 2016

This study tries to seek the is the realistic improvements and legislative measures about current medical advertising which was in the Court on 12 May 2015 by presenting and discussion the understanding, problems and its alternative direction of pre-deliberation on the existing law which is the decision on the constitutionality of health care advertising regulated health care advertising General commercial advertising has the right which have to be protected as the terms of the protection of know and freedom of expression and advertiser's there are sure to be in a value to be protected. Medical advertising is also a person in addition to the absolute value that includes both Due to the particularity of medical advertising in terms of life and the right to health Until now, this has been the target of strong regulations are changing the policy of gradual deregulation in our country, including the country. Medical advertising on the current medical law had been to be checked by pre-deliberation of the executive power. However, due to unconstitutional, in the circumstances which a false hype is flooding and increasing, it has been realized that the fair competition of medical community, life and health rights of the people are threatened by in reverse. In this regard, the abolition of the pre-deliberation system of medical advertising can be welcomed by abolition of the old system which is the legal and institutional censorship. Since its abolition, the alternative policy direction is insufficient also it is not clear. Therefore we need to study this. Therefore, in this paper, we try to find general theoretical background and problem of pre-deliberation system of medical advertising. Also, as trying to find feasibility or ambiguity of regulation and issues about medical advertising on medical law, we argued the provision of special measures of the medical advertising for introduction of integrated medical advertising deliberation committee which can ensure the independence and autonomy, strengthening of the monitoring on the internet advertising, legal resolving through amendments, strengthening of penalties, and establish special measures of medical advertising for the medical privatization and demand for the foreign medical tourist, etc. Empirical study about practical regulatory measures of medical advertising which converged the various opinions of consumer groups, government and academia, and medical community, and we expect hope to see the more realistic alternative provision.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.117-157
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• 2021

This research reviewed the HIPAA/HITECH, 21st Century Cures Act, Common Law, and private Guidances from the perspectives in protecting and utilitizing the medical data, while implications were followed. First, the standards for protection and utilization are relatively clearly regulated through single law on personal medical information in the United States. The HIPAA has been introduced in 1996 as fundamental act on protection of medical data. Medical data was divided into personally identifiable information, non-identifying information, and limited dataset under HIPAA. Regulations on de-identification measures for medical information, objects for deletion of limited data sets, and agreement on prohibition of data re-identification were stipulated. Moreover, in the 21st Century Cures Act regulated mutual compatibility for data sharing, prohibition of data blocking, and strengthening of accessibility of data subjects. Common Law introduced comprehensive consent system and clearly stipulates procedures. Second, the regulatory system is relatively simplified and clearly stipulated in the United States. To be specific, the expert consensus and the safe harbor system were introduced as an anonymity measure for identifiable medical information, which clearly defines the process while increasing trust. Third, the protection of the rights of the data subject is specified, the duty of explanation is specified in detail, while the information right of the consumer (opt-out procedure) for identification information is specified. For instance, the HHS rule and FDA regulations recognize the comprehensive consent system for human research, but the consent procedure, method, and requirements are stipulated through the common rule. Fourth, in the case of the United States, a trust-based system is being used throughout the health and medical data legislation. To be specific, Limited Data Sets are allowed to use in condition to the researcher's agreement to prohibit re-identification, and de-identification or consent process is simplified under the system.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.275-281
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• 2015

The recent health care is growing rapidly want to receive offers users a variety of medical services, can be exploited easily exposed to a third party information on the role of the patient's hospital staff (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc.) depending on the patient clearly may have to be classified. In this paper, in order to ensure safe use by third parties in the health care environment, classify the attributes of patient information and patient privacy protection technique using hierarchical multi-property rights proposed to classify information according to the role of patient hospital officials The. Hospital patients and to prevent the proposed method is represented by a mathematical model, the information (the data consumer, time, sensor, an object, duty, and the delegation circumstances, and so on) the privacy attribute of a patient from being exploited illegally patient information from a third party the prevention of the leakage of the privacy information of the patient in synchronization with the attribute information between the parties.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.158-162
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• 2007

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of a major nosocomial pathogen worldwide and the emergence of this strain has become a major clinical problem. This study was performed for 13 hospitals with more than 400 beds in the country by collecting samples including hands and nasal cavities of doctors, nurses, guardians and patients. Also, additional 320 samples of hands and nasal cavities of 160 community resident in different locations and regions were collected. In all of medical environments and community resident, 625 strains of S. aureus were detected. Among 625 strains of S. aureus, 585 strains(93.6%) showed the resistance to at least one kind of antimicrobial and 112 strains (17.9%) showed multi-drug resistance with the resistance to 4 different types of antimicrobial. Total 152 MRSA strains (24.3%) were isolated from medical environment and community resident. In nasal cavity and hand, 49 MRSA (19.4%) and 103 (27.6%) MRSA were isolated, respectively Minimum inhibitory concentration(MIC) test is used to measure for susceptibility of MRSA isolated to oxacillin. At a concentration $16{\mu}g/ml$ of oxacillin, 11 strains were inhibited. 32 strains at $32{\mu}g/ml$, 41 strains at $64{\mu}g/ml$, 3 strains at $128{\mu}g/ml$, 25 stains at $256{\mu}g/ml$ and 40 strains at over $256{\mu}g/ml$ were inhibited. It was considered that medical environment showed higher than livestock and marine environments in MRSA detection rate.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.71-96
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• 2011

Within the traditional medical delivery system, patients residing in medically vulnerable areas, those with body movement difficulties, and nursing facility residents have had limited access to good healthcare services. However, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) provides us with a convenient and useful means of overcoming distance and time constraints. ICT is integrated with biomedical science and technology in a way that offers a new high-quality medical service. As a result, rapid technological advancement is expected to play a pivotal role bringing about innovation in a wide range of medical service areas, such as medical management, testing, diagnosis, and treatment; offering new and improved healthcare services; and effecting dramatic changes in current medical services. The increase in aging population and chronic diseases has caused an increase in medical expenses. In response to the increasing demand for efficient healthcare services, a telehealth service based on ICT is being emphasized on a global level. Telehealth services have been implemented especially in pilot projects and system development and technological research. With the service about to be implemented in earnest, it is necessary to study its overall acceptance by consumers, which is expected to contribute to the development and activation of a variety of services. In this sense, the study aims at positively examining the structural relationship among the acceptance factors for telehealth services based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Data were collected by showing audiovisual material on telehealth services to online panels and requesting them to respond to a structured questionnaire sheet, which is known as the information acceleration method. Among the 1,165 adult respondents, 608 valid samples were finally chosen, while the remaining were excluded because of incomplete answers or allotted time overrun. In order to test the reliability and validity of the assessment scale items, we carried out reliability and factor analyses, and in order to explore the causal relation among potential variables, we conducted a structural equation modeling analysis using AMOS 7.0 and SPSS 17.0. The research outcomes are as follows. First, service quality, innovativeness of medical technology, and social influence were shown to affect perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of the telehealth service, which was statistically significant, and the two factors had a positive impact on willingness to accept the telehealth service. In addition, social influence had a direct, significant effect on intention to use, which is paralleled by the TAM used in previous research on technology acceptance. This shows that the research model proposed in the study effectively explains the acceptance of the telehealth service. Second, the research model reveals that information privacy concerns had a insignificant impact on perceived ease of use of the telehealth service. From this, it can be gathered that the concerns over information protection and security are reduced further due to advancements in information technology compared to the initial period in the information technology industry, and thus the improvement in quality of medical services appeared to ensure that information privacy concerns did not act as a prohibiting factor in the acceptance of the telehealth service. Thus, if other factors have an enormous impact on ease of use and usefulness, concerns over these results in the initial period of technology acceptance may become irrelevant. However, it is clear that users' information privacy concerns, as other studies have revealed, is a major factor affecting technology acceptance. Thus, caution must be exercised while interpreting the result, and further study is required on the issue. Numerous information technologies with outstanding performance and innovativeness often attract few consumers. A revised bill for those urgently in need of telehealth services is about to be approved in the national assembly. As telemedicine is implemented between doctors and patients, a wide range of systems that will improve the quality of healthcare services will be designed. In this sense, the study on the consumer acceptance of telehealth services is meaningful and offers strong academic evidence. Based on the implications, it can be expected to contribute to the activation of telehealth services. Further study is needed to assess the acceptance factors for telehealth services, such as motivation to remain healthy, health care involvement, knowledge on health, and control of health-related behavior, in order to develop unique services according to the categorization of customers based on health factors. In addition, further study may focus on various theoretical cognitive behavior models other than the TAM, such as the health belief model.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.17-25
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• 2007

The kinds and quantity of antimicrobial agents used for cattle (animal industry) may be considerable, suggesting the possibility that pathogenic bacteria which cannot be extirpated by the existing antimicrobial agents could appear. Ten cattle, pig and chicken farms, respectively, were randomly selected from 5 provinces in Korea and the samples were collected from excrement, manure, underground water, farmers' hands and the neishboring environment. h total of 299 samples were examined and 197 of Escherichia coli, 13 of Campylobacter jejun/coli, 223 of Enterococcus faecium/faecalis and 42 of Staphylococcus aureus isolates were collected. All isolates were screened for antimicrobial resistance: 69.4% of E. coli (137/197 strains), 78.6% of S. aureus (33/42 strains), and 82.1% of E. faecium/faecalis (183/223 strains) were resistant to one antimicrobial agent and all of C. jejuni/coli Isolates showed the resistance to one antimicrobial agent. Meanwhile, the multiple resistance ratio for more than 4 lines of antimicrobial agent was 19.2% of E. coli (38/197 strains), 11.9% of S. aureus (5/42 strains), 15.4% of C. jejuni/coli (2/13 strains) and 6.2% of E. faecium/faecalis (14/223 strains). The antimicrobial resistance ratio of bacteria isolated from the cattle farm showed lower than that of bacteria isolated from the pig or chicken farm, which might be related to the quantify of antimicrobial agents consumed. And one strain of vancomycin resistant E..faecium (VREF) were isolated from the excrement of chicken and stream, respectively. Generally, the ratio of VREF collected in animal farm environments is lower than that of VREF collected in medical environment.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.147-196
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• 2023

Advances in brain science have made it possible to stimulate the brain to treat brain disorder or to connect directly between the neuron activity and an external devices. Non-invasive neurotechnologies already exist, but invasive neurotechnologies can provide more precise stimulation or measure brainwaves more precisely. Nowadays deep brain stimulation (DBS) is recognized as an accepted treatment for Parkinson's disease and essential tremor. In addition DBS has shown a certain positive effect in patients with Alzheimer's disease and depression. Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) are in the clinical stage but help patients in vegetative state can communicate or support rehabilitation for nerve-damaged people. The issue is that the people who need these invasive neurotechnologies are those whose capacity to consent is impaired or who are unable to communicate due to disease or nerve damage, while DBS and BCI operations are highly invasive and require informed consent of patients. Especially in areas where neurotechnology is still in clinical trials, the risks are greater and the benefits are uncertain, so more explanation should be provided to let patients make an informed decision. If the patient is under guardianship, the guardian is able to substitute for the patient's consent, if necessary with the authorization of court. If the patient is not under guardianship and the patient's capacity to consent is impaired or he is unable to express the consent, korean healthcare institution tend to rely on the patient's near relative guardian(de facto guardian) to give consent. But the concept of a de facto guardian is not provided by our civil law system. In the long run, it would be more appropriate to provide that a patient's spouse or next of kin may be authorized to give consent for the patient, if he or she is neither under guardianship nor appointed enduring power of attorney. If the patient was not properly informed of the risks involved in the neurosurgery, he or she may be entitled to compensation of intangible damages. If there is a causal relation between the malpractice and the side effects, the patient may also be able to recover damages for those side effects. In addition, both BCI and DBS involve the implantation of electrodes or microchips in the brain, which are controlled by an external devices. Since implantable medical devices are subject to product liability laws, the patient may be able to sue the manufacturer for damages if the defect caused the adverse effects. Recently, Korea's medical device regulation mandated liability insurance system for implantable medical devices to strengthen consumer protection.