• 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 Medicine and Life Science
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.90-95
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• 2019

The Korea Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention interpreted that recent outbreaks of scarlet fever in Korea since 2011 was resulted from the expansion of scarlet fever notification criteria. To suggest a relevant hypothesis regarding this emerging outbreak, a time series analysis(TSA) of scarlet fever incidence between 2002 and 2016 was conducted. The raw data was the nationwide insurance claims database administered by the Korean National Health Insurance Service. The inclusion criteria were children aged ≤14 years residing in Jeju Province, Korea who received any form of healthcare for scarlet fever from 2002 to 2016. The season was defined as winter (December, January, February; Q1), spring (March, April, May; Q2), summer (June, July, August; Q3), and autumn (September, October, November; Q4). There were seasonal variations with showing peak season on Q1 and Q3. And three phases as 2002 Q2~2005 Q2, 2005 Q2~2009 Q4, and 2010 Q1~2016 Q4 were found between 2002 and 2016. The results from TSA suggested that the recent outbreak of scarlet fever among children in Jeju Province might be a phenomenon from 'unknown birth-related environmental factors' changed after 2010.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.1D
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• pp.115-123
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• 2006

Recently, construction claims have been increased for protecting the rights of construction participants and effectively adjusting the changes under the contract. Thus, the importance of claim management has been emphasized in the construction industry. In domestic construction industry, some claim issues involved in construction activities are often being developed into disputes and even litigations because of the absence of methods or systems for the dispute resolution, and the lack of judicial precedents which can be provided as the references for resolving a particular dispute. In general, the judicial precedents related to the disputes and litigations occurred among construction participants would be extremely valuable in evaluating and analyzing current claims issues. However, such useful information has not been effectively accumulated and utilized in resolving the similar or sometimes identical types of disputes, thus requiring a large amount of additional costs, time and efforts. The primary objective of this study is to propose a web-based decision support system for construction claim management, which enables contractual participants to easily access and use the information of the judicial precedents related to the current construction claims. The decision support system is composed of 'prevention' and 'settlement' modules for avoiding and systematically resolving the construction claims.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.62-69
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• 2018

This study investigate the patent trend of natural feed additives for avian influenza prevention and immunity enhancement. The search scope is Korean and Chinese patents published before December 31, 2017. As a result, I found 53 Korean patents and 105 Chinese patents. Korea and China has increased the number of patent applications since late 2000. In particular, China filed the most patent applications in 2016. Both Korea and China, the oriental medicine materials were mainly used in patent claims. Korea has many patent applications that are submitted by universities, research institutes and bio companies, but China has a high proportion of individual patent applicants.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.265-282
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• 2000

Despite manufacturers' effort to provide safe and reliable products, a number of product-related accidents occur all over the world resulting in much damage to property, personal injury and even loss of life. Considerable evidence indicates that some accidents arise from user negligence, but most are due to the design, manufacture, and distribution of unreasonably dangerous products when compared to their use. As a result, a tremendous number of product liability lawsuits have been filed, many times causing huge amount of financial damages to manufacturers. Furthermore, with increasing government regulation and growing power of consumer lobbies, manufacturers might be more exposed to product liability claims in the future than now. The objectives of this study are twofold: to provide a framework of future research on product liability and safety and to introduce a product safety policy. To accomplish these objectives, previous studies on product liability and safety were reviewed thoroughly. The product safety policy consists of two parts: (1) an engineering design strategy for reducing product-related risks and (2) a management program for a product liability loss prevention plan. The policy is essential to preventing manufacturers' liability exposure as well as designing a safer product.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.13-22
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• 2011

Many studies on cause and prevention of claim have been carried out but they were mostly intended to come up with the improvement measures, improvement system or the measures to deal with the claim, which consequently lacked the substantial ways to identify the details of claim for prevention purpose. That is, there's in fact no tool, in preparation for potential claims, to identify and review the major potential causes at design stage to mitigate the claim and thus, it's necessary to develop the tool such as checklist needed to prepare the claim-supporting documents, check the relevant laws as well as to identify the cause of claim. Hence the study, given the fact that cause of claim is mostly generated at the design stage though the claim itself tends to occur at the construction stage, was aimed at developing the checklist based on contract document such as design documents at design stage for public construction projects in a bid to prevent the potential claim occurred at the design stage.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.3767-3772
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• 2012

Objective: We estimated the total medical costs incurred during the 5 years following a cancer diagnosis and annual medical use status for the six most prevalent cancers in Korea. Methods: From January 1 to December 31, 2006, new patients registered with the six most prevalent cancers (stomach, liver, lung, breast, colon, and thyroid) were randomly selected from the Korea Central Cancer Registry, with 30% of patients being drawn from each cancer group. For the selected patients, cost data were generated using National Health Insurance claims data from the time of cancer diagnosis in 2006 to December 31, 2010. The total number of patients selected was 28,509. Five-year total medical costs by tumor site and Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) stage at the time of diagnosis, and annual total medical costs from diagnosis, were estimated. All costs were calculated as per-patient net costs. Results: Mean 5-year net costs per patient varied widely, from $5,647 for thyroid cancer to $20,217 for lung cancer. Advanced stage at diagnosis was associated with a 1.8-2.5-fold higher total cost, and the total medical cost was highest during the first year following diagnosis and decreased by the third or fourth year. Conclusions: The costs of cancer care were substantial and varied by tumor site, annual phase, and stage at diagnosis. This indicates the need for increased prevention, earlier diagnosis, and new therapies that may assist in reducing medical costs.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.251-260
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• 2009

Objectives : To estimate the annual socioeconomic costs of stroke in Korea in 2005 from a societal perspective. Methods : We identified those 20 years or older who had at least one national health insurance (NHI) claims record with a primary or a secondary diagnosis of stroke (ICD-10 codes: I60-I69, G45) in 2005. Direct medical costs of the stroke were measured from the NHI claims records. Direct non-medical costs were estimated as transportation costs incurred when visiting the hospitals. Indirect costs were defined as patients and caregivers productivity loss associated with office visits or hospitalization. Also, the costs of productivity loss due to premature death from stroke were calculated. Results : A total of 882,143 stroke patients were identified with prevalence for treatment of stroke at 2.44%. The total cost for the treatment of stroke in the nation was estimated to be 3,737 billion Korean won (KRW) which included direct costs at 1,130 billion KRW and indirect costs at 2,606 billion KRW. The per-capita cost of stroke was 3 million KRW for men and 2 million KRW for women. The total national spending for hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke was 1,323 billion KRW and 1,553 billion KRW, respectively, which together consisted of 77.0% of the total cost for stroke. Costs per patient for hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke were estimated at 6 million KRW and 2 million KRW, respectively. Conclusions : Stroke is a leading public health problem in Korea in terms of the economic burden. The indirect costs were identified as the largest component of the overall cost.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.1295-1301
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• 2015

Background: Cancer imposes a significant economic burden on individuals, families and society. The purpose of this study was to estimate the economic burden of cancer using the healthcare claims and cancer registry data in Korea in 2009. Materials and Methods: The economic burden of cancer was estimated using the prevalence data where patients were identified in the Korean Central Cancer Registry. We estimated the medical, non-medical, morbidity and mortality cost due to lost productivity. Medical costs were calculated using the healthcare claims data obtained from the Korean National Health Insurance (KNHI) Corporation. Non-medical costs included the cost of transportation to visit health providers, costs associated with caregiving for cancer patients, and costs for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Data acquired from the Korean National Statistics Office and Ministry of Labor were used to calculate the life expectancy at the time of death, age- and gender-specific wages on average, adjusted for unemployment and labor force participation rate. Sensitivity analysis was performed to derive the current value of foregone future earnings due to premature death, discounted at 3% and 5%. Results: In 2009, estimated total economic cost of cancer amounted to $17.3 billion at a 3% discount rate. Medical care accounted for 28.3% of total costs, followed by non-medical (17.2%), morbidity (24.2%) and mortality (30.3%) costs. Conclusions: Given that the direct medical cost sharply increased over the last decade, we must strive to construct a sustainable health care system that provides better care while lowering the cost. In addition, a comprehensive cancer survivorship policy aimed at lower caregiving cost and higher rate of return to work has become more important than previously considered.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.111-123
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• 2013

Objectives: This study aimed to share with experiences of a demonstration program based on a community for prevention and management of hypertension and diabetes mellitus, and to supply the evidence of accessible strategies within the community through the public-private partnershipin the near future. Methods: This study case was "the program of registration and management of hypertension and diabetes mellitus patients" which was conducted in Hogncheon-gun in Gangwon-province, 2012. Results: The infrastructure of this center was constructed with the public-private sector partnership according to the basic model of demonstration program since November, 2012. So, the total registered rate of hypertension and diabetes mellitus patients were 26.6% in comparison with suspected patients (to the result of 2011 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey), 37.8% in comparison with the real number of outpatient (to the claims data of 2011 Branch Honcheon-gun, National Health Insurance Corporation), and 107.8% in comparison with the project goal, sequentially. To the patients who were not treated for 30 and 60 days among the registered patients, a recall service was conducted. Through this intervention, it was monitored that this program has enhanced the consecutive treatment rate of the registered patients. Conclusions: To improve the continuous management of hypertension and diabetes mellitus patients, we are gotten to know that the community need the joint participation and mutual cooperation with public-private sector partnership.