• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.1-23
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• 1999

The purpose of this paper is to survey the current status of service utilization in oriental medicine, to identify the determinants of consumers' decision in the service utilization, and then suggest policy implications for promoting the consumers' utilization. A multiple regression model was adopted to analyze the factors that influence consumer's decision in purchasing the oriental medical services. Data used in this research relied on National Survey Data conducted by Korea Institute of Health and Social Affairs, and sampling survey. The results could be summarized as follows.: 1. the number of visits to oriental medical institutions has shown an overall increase during the last decade since the inception of health insurance for oriental medical services. It still, however, revealed a relatively iow figure to western medical services. 2. the main factors, after controlling demographic variables, that determine consumers' selection between oriental medical services and western medical services are considered to be price, belief in effectiveness of services, waiting time for service. Implications for policy recommendation include 1. to reduce a barrier to service utilization by discounting dramatically the price of herb medicine, which is believed to be crucial in expanding market share, 2. to encourage consumer's belief in clinical effectiveness through a specialization in competitive services compared with wertern medicine, 3. to keep the affirmative image among consumers alive through an active participation of oriental medical doctors in community activities, 4 to change the health care system in favor of oriental medicine in the long run.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.311-312
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• 2020

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.24 no.1 s.33
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• pp.16-28
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• 1991

Service diversification is recognized as an important strategy against turbulent environmental change. This study is designed to find out the trend of service diversification in Korean health care organizations and also to identify factors associated with the degree of service diversification. Data were collected from 69 hospitals out of 71 hospitals with over 300 beds. Important findings are summarized below. 1. Types of diversification are closely related to hospital size. Large hospitals have a tendency to provide sophisticated services requiring specialized skills and equipment, while small hospital have concentrated their efforts on health screening programs. 2. The more competitive and bigger hospitals are, the greater number of services that provide. Also, hospitals operating rational management information systems provide more services. Contrary to the expectation hospitals with a low performance during last 3 years showed more service diversification. 3. A trend of more diversification was observed in hospitals whose chief executive officer used a prospector strategy. 4. A multiple regression analysis revealed that bed size, competitive environment, degree of rational management, and the growth pattern were significantly associated with the service diversification.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.118-128
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• 2016

Objectives: The purposes of this study were to examine the status of children and adolescents with regard to enrollment in private medical insurance (PMI) and to investigate its influence on their utilization of medical services. Methods: The present study assessed 2973 subjects younger than 19 years of age who participated in five consecutive Korea Health Panel surveys from 2009 to 2012. Results: At the initial assessment, less than 20% of the study population had not enrolled in any PMI program, but this proportion decreased over time. Additionally, the number of subjects with more than two policies increased, the proportions of holders of indemnity-type only ('I'-only) and of fixed amount+indemnity-type ('F+I') increased, whereas the proportion of holders with fixed amount-type only ('F'-only) decreased. Compared with subjects without private insurance, PMI policyholders were more likely to use outpatient and emergency services, and the number of policies was proportionately related to inpatient service utilization. Regarding outpatient care, subjects with 'F'-only PMI used these services more often than did uninsured subjects (odds ratio [OR], 1.69), whereas subjects with 'I'-only PMI or 'F+I' PMI utilized a broad range of inpatient, outpatient, and emergency services relative to uninsured subjects (ORs for 'I'-only: 1.39, 1.63, and 1.38, respectively; ORs for 'F+I': 1.67, 2.09, and 1.37, respectively). Conclusions: The findings suggest public policy approaches to standardizing PMI contracts, reform in calculation of premiums in PMI, re-examination regarding indemnity insurance products, and mutual control mechanisms to mediate between national health insurance services and private insurers are required.

• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1995.10a
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• pp.211-212
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• 1995

• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1993.10a
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• pp.131-132
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• 1993

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.399-407
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• 2001

Objectives : To investigate the current status of hospital-based health promotion programs in Korea and to elucidate the factors which affect to the process of implementation. Methods : We conducted a mail survey of all 875 hospitals in Korea from March to May 2001. In reference to 12 specific kinds of health promotion programs, hospital CEOs were asked whether their hospital have such programs, whether they are fully staffed and whether the program is paid for by the patients. Contextual factors(location, hospital type, number of beds, length of operation, public/private status, economic level of the community, the level of competition) and organizational factors (the extent of market, compatibility with vision, formalization), strategic types of the CEOs (defender/analyser/prospector) were also surveyed. The relationships between each variable and the implementation of health promotion services, activation of services, and the target groups(patient/community resident) were analyzed by univariate analysis and the independent effects of these variables were examined with multiple logistic regression. Results : 100 of 125 hospitals responding (84.8%) had mere than one health promotion program. However, they showed fluctuations in the adoption rate of each programs, meaning that comprehensive health promotion services were not provided. Many programs were not fully staffed and few hospitals had paid programs. In factors affecting health promotion service implementation, private hospitals showed a higher rate in implementation than public hospitals. In contrast, when the competition among nearby hospitals was intense, the level of implementation of service lowered. In the strategic type of the CEOs, the prospectors were shown to have instituted more health promotion programs in their hospitals and the analysers had a greater tendency to have programs for community residents than the defenders. Conclusion . Considering the above results, contextual factors may contribute greatly to the introduction of health promotion services in Korean hospital, although the CEO's personal preference and organizational factors play a larger role in the activation of services. Additionally, the CEO's personal preference may be the major influencing factor in the introduction of programs for community residents.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.2-6
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• 2006

Ever since the foundation of the Korean Society for Preventive Medicine in 1947, members of the Society had made remarkable contributions to the public health development and national health promotion. They had played key roles in establishing national health system, improving environmental hygiene, controlling infectious and chronic diseases, promoting family planning, improving industrial and environmental health, and developing health service management. However, the Society had less actively responded to the changes in health service needs of the population that were caused by a rapid epidemiologic transition in last a few decades. Early detection and treatment of chronic diseases including cancer and cardiovascular diseases and risk reduction by the life style modification are major approaches to the contemporary national health problems and they are the core contents of preventive medicine. The author proposed to develop the clinical preventive medicine specialist who will have additional training in clinical medicine for health screening and life style modification to the current preventive medicine training program and thus will be able to provide comprehensive preventive medical services. Another area that the Society may take the initiative is training preventive medicine specialist in the disaster, including bioterrorism, preparedness and management. The Society should be more active in proposing health policy and health service program and also participate collectively in a large scale health research project of the government. These approaches may not only contribute more effectively to the national health promotion but also improve the identity of the Society.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.33-38
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• 2003

Objectives : To assess the difference in the volume of psychiatric treatments provided to health insurance inpatients, compared with those on medical assistance(the medical aid program) Korean psychiatric hospitals, and to determine factors which affect the volume of the services. Methods : 21 psychiatrists, from 3 Korean psychiatric hospitals recorded the frequencies psychiatric treatments provided to inpatients in one week (February 18-24, 2002). The records of 329 patients were analyzed through t-tests, and random effectmixed model analyses to define the difference between the two groups, and to find other factors affecting the volume of service. Results : A significant difference in the volume of psychiatric treatments provided was observed between the health insurance and medical assistance groups. The variation in the volume of service between hospitals was prominent, and other factors (gender, agegroup, length of stay and mental disorder)were also found to be significant. The patients on medical assistance received only 70% of the psychiatric treatments of those on health insurance. Conclusions : More effort is required to improve the methods of payment to increase the level of fee scheduling for medical assistance. Further studies on the mechanisms causing these differences in the volume of service are required.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.25 no.1 s.37
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• pp.53-63
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• 1992

There are increasing interest and need for information on health care consumer with the significance of hospital marketing and strategic planning being increasingly emphasized. This study was conducted to investigate the criteria for selection of medical facilities according to the characteristics of health care consumer by the types of medical services on a sample of 1,500 population aged 20 years and above. Major findings are as follows ; 1. When considering the criteria for selection of medical facilities into two factors, namely, quality or convenience factors, convenience factor was the major contributor for outpatient and dental services whereas it was quality factor for inpatient services. 2. Females and those residing in large cities selected medical facilities based on convenience factor in the outpatient services. In the case of inpatient service, persons who considered their present health status to be good and whose ages were 50 years old and above choose medical facilities based on quality factor. 3. Persons who considered medical facilities to be profit-making tended to choose medical facilities based on convenience factor for outpatient services. There were no differences in the cases of inpatient and dental services. 4. There was no significant difference on the criteria for selection of medical facilities according to the decision maker for selection or trust on medical facilities. On the use of health service information, selection of medical facilities was based on quality factor for those who made more use of the information in the cases of outpatient and dental services. 5. Analysis using the logistic regression model on the criteria for the selection of medical facilities with the characteristics of health care consumer as independent variables was performed. The selection of medical facilities was significantly related with residential area, sex, and use of information on medical facilities for outpatient services and with age, average monthly income, and perception of health status for inpatient services. For dental services significant association with residential area and use of information on medical facilities was seen. The results of this study, despite some limitations, can be used as baseline data for marketing and strategic planning of hospital management.