• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.26-37
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• 2024

Background: The purpose of this study was to compare and analyze the differences in charges and length of stay per case between spine specialty hospitals and non-specialty hospitals, and to identify the factors that influenced them. Methods: This study used claims data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, including inpatient visits from January 2021 to December 2022. The healthcare facility status data was used to identify the characteristics of study hospitals. Multilevel analysis was conducted to identify factors associated with the charges and Poisson regression analysis was conducted to analyze the length of stay between spine specialty hospitals and non-specialty hospitals. There were 32,015 cases of spine specialty hospitals and 17,555 cases of non-specialty hospitals. Results: For four of five common spinal surgeries, specialty hospitals shaped longer length of stay than those of non-specialty hospitals. Multilevel and Poisson regression analysis revealed that regardless of the type of surgery, higher age and higher Charlson comorbidity index scores were significantly associated with an increase in both the charges per case and length of stay (p<0.05). However, when hospitals were located in metropolitan areas, there was a significant decrease (p<0.05). Conclusion: This study found that specialty hospital had higher inpatient charges and loner length of stay contrary to the previous study results. Further studies will be needed to find which contribute to the differences.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.14-23
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• 2023

Purposes: The Specialty hospital designation policy had launched in 2011 and 110 designated specialty hospitals have been operating nationwide in 2022. This study was to estimate the market share of specialty hospitals for the specific diseases compared to other types of hospitals. Methodology: Data were derived from the National Health Insurance Claim data from 2018 to 2019. Subjects were all the inpatients with MDC(Major Disease Category) that specialty hospitals specialized in. A total of 34,231,387 claims were analyzed to estimate the market share. Findings: 90 specialty hospitals were responsible for 2.4 percent of inpatient care with specific diseases for specialty hospitals. There were regional variations in the market share of the specialty hospitals as the number of specialty hospitals in regions. Specialty hospitals' market shares were relatively high in burn(31.3%), ophthalmology(16.4%), obstetrics and gynecology(7.1%), alcohol(6.0%), joint(3.7%), spine(2.7%). After adjusting the number of inpatients per hospital, hospitals specialized in burn, alcohol, ophthalmology, breast, joint, obstetrics and gynecology, and hand replantation had treated more patients than tertiary hospitals. Practical Implications: Although specialty hospitals' market share was small, some types of specialty hospitals had an impact on the regional market as well as the national level market. To improve patients' accessibility to a specialty hospital, it is necessary to government supports non-specialized hospitals to change into specialty hospitals in certain fields and regions where the number of specialty hospitals is insufficient.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.1-14
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• 2018

Purpose : Customers with loyalty are very important to hospitals for sustainable growth in their medical market. Individuals with loyalty are likely to visit same hospital repeatedly when they need medical services. This study was to identify factors associated with selection of specialty hospitals among customers with loyalty. Methods : The subjects of this study were 735 inpatients in 22 specialty hospitals in 6 designated fields(joints, spine, colorectal-anal, obstetrics and gynecology, ophthalmology, otolaryngology). Customer types classified as customers with high loyalty, neutral customers, and customers with low loyalty according to net promoter score(NPS). Factor analysis was conducted to classify 22 hospital selection factors into some similar properties. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to confirm the selection factors related to loyal customers. Findings : Most of specialty hospitals received high NPS of 8 points or higher in all the designated fields. Five factors associated with selection of specialty hospital are (1) hospital facilities and convenience, (2) trust in doctor and hospital, (3) rapidness of treatment, (4) hospital awareness, and (5) accessibility. As a result of logistic regression analysis, selection factors related to loyal customers were 'hospital facilities and convenience', 'trust in doctor and hospital' and 'rapidness of treatment'. Differences in the degree of importance of three selection factors by customer types appeared for each designated field. Practical Implications : This study confirms the high level of patient experience among inpatients of specialty hospitals. Factors associated with selection of hospital among inpatients with loyalty are 'facilities and convenience of hospitals', 'trust of doctor and hospital' and 'rapidness of treatment'. This study will be meaningful as basic data to systematically enhance the roles and functions of the health care system and to provide securing competitiveness according to designated fields in the management aspect of specialty hospitals.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.139-152
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• 2020

Objectives To explore the traffic injury patients' experience on health care utilization of Korean Medicine (KM) practice and perception of health care system for developing a Korean medicine clinical practice guideline (CPG) of traffic injuries by survey method. Methods Two hundred ten patients in suffering from traffic injuries were surveyed from September 1st, 2019 to January 31th, 2020 at 2 University Hospitals (Pusan National Korean Medicine Hospital and Kyung Hee Korean Medicine Hospital at Gangdong) and 1 Spine Specialty Hospital (Jaseng Hospital of Korean Medicine). A structured questionnaire of experience on health care utilization of KM practice and perception of health care system of was distributed to responders by visits and all data were statistically analysed. Results Survey results showed high satisfaction of patients with the experience of KM treatments in order of daoyin exercise (7.8±2.3), chuna manual therapy (7.7±4.0), pharmacoacupuncture (7.4±3.0) etc. Safety concerns were reported in 9.1% subjects and 205 (97.6%) patients answered that collaboration with KM and western medicine is necessary for patients with traffic injuries. For the patients' requirement for extending insurance coverage, the most required therapy was chuna manual therapy (57.5%) and pharmacoacupuncture (42.0%). Conclusions This study presented the realistic patient-centered perception of KM practice and health care system in Korea. These results will provide basic data to be reflected in the process of adaptation for the revision of Korean Medicine CPG for traffic injuries.