• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.132-140
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• 2005

Objectives: To propose a risk-adjustment model from insurance claims data, and analyze the changes in cesarean section rates of healthcare organizations after adjusting for risk distribution. Methods: The study sample included delivery claims data from January to September, 2003. A risk-adjustment model was built using the 1st quarter data, and the 2nd and 3rd quarter data were used for a validation test. Patients' risk factors were adjusted using a logistic regression analysis. The c-statistic and Hosmer-Lemeshow test were used to evaluate the performance of the risk-adjustment model. Crude, predicted and risk-adjusted rates were calculated, and compared to analyze the effects of the adjustment. Results: Nine risk factors (malpresentation, eclampsia, malignancy, multiple pregnancies, problems in the placenta, previous Cesarean section, older mothers, bleeding and diabetes) were included in the final risk-adjustment model, and were found to have statistically significant effects on the mode of delivery. The c-statistic (0.78) and Hosmer-Lemeshow test ($x^2$=0.60, p=0.439) indicated a good model performance. After applying the 2nd and 3rd quarter data to the model, there were no differences in the c-statistic and Hosmer-Lemeshow $x^2$. Also, risk factor adjustment led to changes in the ranking of hospital Cesarean section rates, especially in tertiary and general hospitals. Conclusion: This study showed a model performance, using medical record abstracted data, was comparable to the results of previous studies. Insurance claims data can be used for identifying areas where risk factors should be adjusted. The changes in the ranking of hospital Cesarean section rates implied that crude rates can mislead people and therefore, the risk should be adjusted before the rates are released to the public. The proposed risk-adjustment model can be applied for the fair comparisons of the rates between hospitals.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.268-277
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• 2021

Background: Most antipsychotic drugs studies have been mainly conducted on side effects, randomized clinical trials, utilization rates, and trends. But there have been few studies on the influencing factors in elderly patients. The purpose of this study was to analyze the influencing factors on the outpatient prescription of antipsychotic drugs in the elderly patients. Methods: Active ingredients of antipsychotic drugs in Korea were selected according to the Korean Pharmaceutical Information Center (KPIC)'s classification. Data source was Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) claims data in 2020 and target patient group was the elderly patient group. We extracted patients who have been prescribed one or more antipsychotic drugs and visited only one medical institution. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square, t-test, negative binomial regression. Results: A number of outpatients were 245,197 and prescriptions were 1,379,092. Most characteristics of patients were 75-85 year's old, female, health insurance type, no disease (dementia, schizophrenia), atypical drugs, cci score (>2) and characteristics of medical institution were neurology in specialty, rural region, general hospitals. Results of regression showed that patient's characteristics and medical center characteristics had significant effect on the outpatient prescription of antipsychotic drugs in the elderly patients. Conclusion: This study suggests that national policy of antipsychotic drugs in the elderly patients, with the consideration of the patients' and medical institutions' characteristics, is needed.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.451-461
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• 2021

Background: Readmissions related to lack of quality care harm both patients and health insurance finances. If the factors affecting readmission are identified, the readmission can be managed by controlling those factors. This paper aims to identify factors that affect readmissions of convalescent rehabilitation patients. Methods: Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service claims data were used to identify readmissions of convalescent patients who were admitted in hospitals and long-term care hospitals nationwide in 2018. Based on prior research, the socio-demographics, clinical, medical institution, and staffing levels characteristics were included in the research model as independent variables. Readmissions for convalescent rehabilitation treatment within 30 days after discharge were analyzed using logistic regression and generalization estimation equation. Results: The average readmission rate of the study subjects was 24.4%, and the risk of readmission decreases as age, length of stay, and the number of patients per physical therapist increase. In the patient group, the risk of readmission is lower in the spinal cord injury group and the musculoskeletal system group than in the brain injury group. The risk of readmission increases as the severity of patients and the number of patients per rehabilitation medicine specialist increases. Besides, the readmission risk is higher in men than women and long-term care hospitals than hospitals. Conclusion: "Reducing the readmission rate" is consistent with the ultimate goal of the convalescent rehabilitation system. Thus, it is necessary to prepare a mechanism for policy management of readmission.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.90-99
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• 2011

Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA) claims database has a high potential to detect signals of new drug interactions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of information component (IC) and relative risk (RR) as a tool for signal detection, and to analyze the possible drug interactions caused by clopidogrel using HIRA claims database. This study was performed in elderly patients over 65 years of age who administered clopidogrel from January 2005 to June 2006 in South Korea. Serious Adverse Events (SAEs) as drug interactions of clopidogrel were defined as any ambulatory hospitalization for ischemic diseases within comcomitant medication period of clopidogrel. Information Component (IC) and Relative Risk (RR) were calculated to compare the proportion of drug-SAE pairs in order to select drug specific SAEs. IC and RR signals of clopidogrel drug interaction were screened when IC's 95% confidence interval was greater than 0 and RR's 95% confidence interval was greater than 1 respectively. All detected signals were compared to references such as $Micromedex^{(R)}$ and 2010 Drug Interaction $Facts^{TM}$. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predicted value and negative predicted value were used to evaluate usefulness of this method. Among 13,252,930 cases of elderly patients who co-administered clopidogrel and other drugs, 47,485 cases were detected as SAE. Of these, one-hundred nine cases were detected by the IC-based data-mining approach and ninety one cases were detected by the RR-based data-mining approach. Total One-hundred sixty three unrecognized signals were detected by IC or RR. Twelve signals from IC-based data-mining (57.1%) were corresponded with drug interactions from references and eight signals from RR-based data-mining (38.1%) were corresponded with drug interactions from references. These signals include proton pump inhibitors, calcium channel blockers and HMG CoA reductase Inhibitors, which were known to affect CYP450 metabolism. Further studies using HIRA claims database are necessary to develop appropriate data-mining measure.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.120-127
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• 2014

Background: Since December 2010, online computerized prospective drug utilization review (pDUR) has been implemented in Korea. pDUR involves the review of each prescription before the medication is dispensed to the individual patient. The pDUR is performed electronically by Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA), which is a Korean governmental agency, and then HIRA provides medical institutions and pharmacies with information that can be helpful to them in preventing potential drug problems such as drug/drug interactions or ingredient duplication. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of the Korean pDUR implementation on the proportion of drug-drug interactions (DDIs) using claims data from HIRA. Methods: A before-after comparison of the prevalence of DDIs between prescription was conducted, using HIRA administrative claims data of medical institution from January 2010 to December 2011. The analysis unit was the prescription issued and pairs before and after. The main outcome measures were the proportion of DDIs within- (control group) or between- physician encounters. To examine the difference, a paired t-test was applied. Results: We found that DDIs proportion between prescription decreased significantly (t=3.04, p=0.0026) after the implementation of pDUR, whereas there is no significant reduction within prescription (t=1.15, p=0.2518). With respect to the prevalence of DDIs between drug groups, the most dramatic reduction was occurred between 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors and anti-fungal agents. Conclusion: It seems effective that giving a direct feedback to prescribers by a prospective DUR. Further research is needed to assess the impact of DUR to final outcomes such as hospitalization.

• The Journal of the Korean life insurance medical association
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.68-74
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• 2008

Medical verification of cancer diagnosis in insurance claims is a very important procedure in insurance administrations. Claims staffs are in need of medical experts' opinions about claim administration. This procedure is called medical claim review (MCR) and is composed of verification and advice. MCR verification evaluates the insured’s physical condition by medical records and compares it with product coverage. It is divided into assessment of living assurance benefit, verification of cancer, and assessment of the cause of death. Actually cancer verification of MCR is applicable to coding because the risk ratio in product development is usually coded data. There are some confusing neoplastic diseases in assessing the verification of cancer. This article reviews gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) and mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue tumors (MALToma) of the stomach. The second most common group of stromal or mesenchymal neoplasms affecting the gastrointestinal tract is GIST. Nowadays there are many articles about the pathophysiology of GIST. However there are few confirmative theories except molecular cell biology of KIT mutation and some tyrosine kinase. Therefore, coding the GIST, which has previously been classified as an intermediate risk group according to NIH2001 criteria, for cancer verification of MCR is suitable for D37.1; neoplasm of uncertain or unknown behavior of digestive organs and the stomach. The gastrointestinal tract is the predominant site of extranodal non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. B-cell lymphomas of the MALT type, now called extranodal marginal zone B-cell lymphoma of MALT type in the REAL/WHO classification, are the most common primary gastric lymphomas worldwide. Its characteristics are as follows. First, it is different from traditional stomach cancers such as gastric adenocarcinoma. Second, the primary therapy of MALToma is the eradication of H. pylori by antibiotics and the remission rate is over 80%. Third, it has a different clinical course compared to traditional malignant lymphoma. Someone insisted that cancer verification is not possible for the above reasons. However, there have been findings on pathologic mechanism, and according to WHO classification, MALToma is classified into malignant B-cell lymphoma and it must be verified as malignancy in MCR.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.73-80
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• 2012

This study was to determine the inappropriate drug use in pediatric outpatients who received 2 or more prescriptions on the same day. Retrospective drug utilization reviews (DURs) were implemented to samples obtained from national health insurance claims data during December 2008 to February 2009, using 5 DUR criteria (duplication, drug-drug interaction, drug-disease interaction, drug-age contraindication, incorrect dosage) established in the Drug Information Framework (DIF)-$Korea^{TM}$, DUR program. Among 38,451 claims analyzed in the study, 74.7% had more than one conflicts in the 5 DUR modules. Among 16,472 patients analyzed, 49.6% had conflicts with duplication criteria composing of ingredient duplication (23.3%) and therapeutic class duplication (39.6%). Incorrect dosages were found in 73.6% of patients and under-dosage conflicts accounted for 59.9%, which was higher than over-dosage conflicts (38.3%). In this study, inappropriate drug prescriptions such as under-dose, pediatric contraindication and therapeutic duplication were prevalent in pediatric outpatient settings, suggesting much more awareness to the society, to prevent drug related problems in a vulnerable pediatric group.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.402-410
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• 2018

Background: Monitoring appropriate medication categories can provide early warning of certain disease outbreaks. This study aimed to present a methodology for selecting and monitoring medications relevant to the surveillance of acute respiratory tract infections, such as influenza. Methods: To estimate correlations between acute febrile respiratory tract infection and some medication categories, the cross-correlation coefficient (CCC) was used and established. Two databases were used: real-time prescription trend of antivirals, anti-inflammatory drugs, antibiotics using Drug Utilization Review Program between 2012 and 2015 and physicians' number of encounters with acute febrile respiratory tract infections such as influenza outbreaks using the national level health insurance claims data. The seasonality was also evaluated using the CCC. Results: After selecting six candidate diseases that require extensive monitoring, influenza with highly specific medical treatment according to the health insurance claims data and its medications were chosen as final candidates based on a data-driven approach. Antiviral medications and influenza were significantly correlated. Conclusion: An annual correlation was observed between influenza and antiviral medications, anti-inflammatory drugs. Suitable models should be established for syndromic surveillance of influenza.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.5-11
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• 2009

Objectives : This study was conducted to estimate the socioeconomic cost of injuries in South Korea. Methods : We matched claims data from national health insurance, automobile insurance and industrial accident compensation insurance(IACI), and mortality data obtained from the national statistical office from 2001 to 2003 by patients unique identifier. Socioeconomic cost included both direct cost and indirect cost: the direct cost was injury-related medical expenditure and the indirect cost included loss of productivity due to healthcare utilization and premature death. Results : The socioeconomic cost of injuries in Korea was approximately 1.9% of the GDP from 2001 to 2003. That is, 12.1 trillion KRW(Korean Won) in 2001, 12.3 trillion KRW in 2002, and 13.7 trillion KRW in 2003. In 2003, direct medical costs were 24.6%(3.4 trillion KRW), the costs for loss of productivity by healthcare utilization were 13.0%(1.8 trillion KRW), and the costs for loss of productivity by premature death were 62.4%(8.6 trillion KRW). Conclusions : In this study, the socioeconomic cost of injuries in Korea between 2001 and 2003 was estimated by using not only health insurance claims data, but also automobile insurance, IACI claims and mortality data. We conclude that social efforts are required to reduce the socioeconomic cost of injuries in Korea, which represented approximately 1.9% of the GDP for the time period specified.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.21-37
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• 2021

Objectives : Allergic rhinitis(AR) is a common chronic disease that accounts for 10-40% of the world's population. This study aims to analyze the status of claims, prevalence, and medical utilization of allergic rhinitis patients using representative patients sample data. Methods : This study used the National Patients Sample(HIRA-NPS) of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service for 7 years(2010-2016). And we defined AR patients as all statements including J30 or a subcategory of J30 as the main disease, using the Korean Standard Classification of Diseases(KCD-7). The trend of AR patients by year was divided into Western medicine(WM) and Korean medicine(KM), and analyzed by subgroup analysis such as inpatient/outpatient, gender, age, insurance type, and care institution. Results : Patients with AR were mainly claimed for first sub diagnosis in WM and major diagnosis in KM, and the number of claims increased about 1.3 times and 1.4 times compared to 2010 in WM and KM, respectively. In addition, the total annual medical expenses in 2016 increased 1.3 times and 1.7 times compared to 2010, respectively. Conclusions : Both WM and KM are showing a steadily increasing trend in medical use due to allergic rhinitis. Further research is needed by considering genetic and environmental factors and individual characteristics, and linking with additional data.