• Health Policy and Management
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.315-319
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• 2018

This paper aims to make a step-by-step strategy to formulate an unified health system by clarifying and overcoming challenges facing South and North Korea and to estimate costs needed for South Korea to assist North Korea to recover to normal health delivery system. We explored implications through literature review and estimated costs under the assumption that supportive activities be provided for 5 years in three ways: support for the development of health and medical care manpower; support for health and medical facilities; and support for the provision of both preventive and primary health care. Step-by-step strategy is formulated for a unified health system with the cost estimation resulting as follows: in case of basic scenario, a total of 3 trillion and 341 billion won (at present value of the year 2017) is in need for the 5-year period at the initial 'recovery support stage' with 135.9 billion won for the development of health and medical care manpower, approximately 2 trillion won for health and medical facilities, and 1.2 trillion won for the provision of both preventive and primary health care. Step-by-step approach is more realistic and applicable in formulating unified health system. Suggested stages are 'recovery support stage,' 'system homogenization stage,' and 'unified system stage.' Strategies at 'recovery support stage' suggested in this paper need to be pursued and followed by those at 'system homogenization stage' and 'unified system stage.'

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.321-349
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• 1998

Since 1990 the effort for unification has been active in each department of our society. But the study for health policy in Unified Korea has been scarce. Unified Korea should be a democracy and a constitutional state. So we should have lively discussion on the health law as well as unified general laws. The purpose of this study is to compare the health law of South Korea and North Korea and to understand the differences in them. We guess both Korea are considerably different each other. But this study found out that there are many health related laws that have same goals and contents. The reason for this is that both health laws have its root in Korea Law. And the right to health is the social basic right. whose characteristic can not be compatible with market economy and demands state intervention for securing the right to health. The health related laws are divided into 4 fileds. 1. There is a field A which is affected by unified political and economic system and differs little from the law system: the license system of medical personnel. 2. There is a field B which is seldom affected by unified political and economic system and differs little from the law system: the right and duty of medical personnel. quarantine law. 3. There is a field C which is affected by unified political and economic system and differs greatly from the law system: health institution law(exclusive of quarantine law), the laws of medical personnel category, of research center(especially per-mission, registration and establishment). of the role of basic health in private and public area. 4. There is a field D which is seldom affected by unified political and economic system and differs greatly from the law system: health equipment law(the laws of drugs, of cosmetics and of medical instrument. of blood management). the laws of health knowledge. of cooperation in chinese medicine and western medicine. the health promotion law. the rules of first-aid. the law of separation of dispensary from medical practice. The laws which are seldom affected by political and economic system can be consolidated. which in turn can be revised and enacted before unification of Korea through the interchange between North Korea and South Korea and the support to North Korea health system.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.301-310
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• 2020

Background: In this study, we aimed to investigate the recent trends for health care indicators including maternal mortality ratio, infant mortality rate, under-five mortality rate, life expectancy, years of life lost, and healthcare resources in South Korea, North Korea, Germany, Russian Federation, Mongolia, Vietnam, China, Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary. Methods: We used data from five sources: World Health Organization, Federal Institute for Population Research, World Bank, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development health statistics, and national statistics. Results: In the early 1990s, health indicators continued to improve in countries that switched to the health insurance system, but the gap widened in North Korea as health indicators worsened. Conclusion: The establishment of a sustainable health care system after unification of the Korean peninsula requires substantial changes in the health care system and efforts to improve the health of North Koreans.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.127-133
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• 2013

This study investigated the German experience in the transition to a unified health care system and suggests the following implications for Korea. First, Germany could have made use of the unification process better if there had been a good road map. Therefore Korea must develop a well prepared road map that considers all possible situations. Second, Germany saw an opportunity for the improvement of the health care system in the early stage of unification but could not take advantage of it because the situation changed dramatically and they had not sufficiently prepared for it. Korea should take into account the opportunity for improvement of the present health care system, such as the roles of public health and traditional medicine. Thirdly, the conditions f North Korea seem to be far worse than those of former East Germany and also worse than even those of other transition countries. Therefore Korea should design a long-term road map taking as many variables into account as possible, including the different rigid way of thinking and the interrelationship among the social sectors. Fourthly, during the German reunification unexpected factors changed the direction of the events. Korea should have a separate plan for the unexpected factors.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.843-855
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• 2015

This study developed a band-pass filter based artificial filter bank(BAFB) based on that in order to efficiently obtain the significant dynamic responses. The BAFB was then optimized about the El-centro earthquake wave which was often used in the construction research, and the software implementation of BAFB was finally embedded in the wireless unified management system(WiUMS). For the evaluation of the developed BAFB, a real time dynamic response experiment was performed on a cable-stayed bridge model, and the response of the cable-stayed bridge model was measured using both the traditional wired system and the developed BAFB-based WiUMS. The experiment results showed that the compressed dynamic response acquired by the BAFB-based WiUMS matched significantly with that of the traditional wired system while still carrying sufficient modal information of the cable-stayed bridge. Finally, the developed BAFB was able to reconstruct or re-sample the dynamic response wholly from the compressed response signal, and it can be applied as a new kind of measurement system for a wireless sensor networks based structural health monitoring system that secures both economy and efficiency.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.37-82
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• 2009

Korea has gained the much more performances in the fields of pubic health laws and related policies on the basis of the substantial economic achievements. In 1977, the social medical insurance was established for companies with more than 500 employees, and in 1989, Korea successfully achieved the national medical insurance system covering the total population within only 12 years beginning with multiple insurers. There remained some problems, however, to be improved such as both the low level of contribution rates and benefit packages due to the inefficiency in utilizing limited medical resources. In 2000, all insurers were unified into a single insurer (National Health Insurance Corporation), and special independent Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA) was also established. From the origin of medical insurance system in 1977, the Korean reimbursement system has been fee-for-service system, and after the establishment of HIRA, it has been providing objective and expert medical cost review services and health quality assessment services.

• Journal of Computing Science and Engineering
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.204-210
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• 2013

We present the motivation, design and implementation of a smart home system in Korea. Our system is open, extensible, integrated, intelligent, and usage-centric. We detail the challenges and key design requirements for the smart home system based on our past experiences, and show how convergence system design is a capable methodology for enabling an integrated and multi-faceted home management system that encompasses energy management, home appliance control, environment management, u-health, and living support functionalities under a single unified design. Using energy management as a specific case study, we demonstrate how convergence system design can encapsulate technology heterogeneity and hardware-software disparity without compromising simple yet powerful user interfaces.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.1837-1840
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• 2006

Because there are no unified nomenclature systems for either GES-type or IBC-type extended-spectrum ${\beta}-lactamases$ (ESBLs), we propose a unified and definitive nomenclature system for GES/IBC-type ESBLs. This proposed nomenclature update is greatly helpful in two points: (i) it would not confuse microbiologists studying GES-type ESBLs, fundamentally preventing misleading nomenclature of these antibiotic resistance genes, and (ii) the definitive renaming of GES/IBC-type ESBLs can help some researchers to correctly designate new GES-type ESBLs such as novel enzymes identified trom some nationwide surveys.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.1-22
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• 2003

Since 1990s, the use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine(CAM) has been rising rapidly all of the world. In 1983, WHO recommended that the traditional medicine actively be utilized. At the end of 20th century, as chronic and intractable diseases increased in western countries, traditional medicine has attracted considerable attention. COWM shows possibilities of new approaches for these intractable diseases. Thus, we try to show our proper approach of COWM through the international comparative study. In order to fulfill the objectives, we applied the following methodology: 1) Literature review on previous study, 2) Local survey using self-administered questionnaire, and 3) FGI(Focus Group Interview) with local experts. The results were as follows : Three Asian countries, China, Korea and Taiwan, are very active in implementing COWM policy. Japan, however, has independent system of unified medicine. In regards to the combined care policy and system, China has the most advanced COWM system among four countries. In respect to combined care education, it is needed to increase the COWM education contents and the amount of cross educational curriculum. Based on the current COWM system, Chinese, Japanese and Taiwanese doctors can prescribe both oriental and western drugs. But, Korean medical law prohibits western doctors and oriental doctors from prescribing the counterpart´s medicine. So, the revision of current medical law is urgent for COWM in Korea. And when it comes to patient satisfaction, more than fifty percent responded positively in China, Korea and Taiwan. To achieve the goal of COWM ; 1) mutual understanding and recognition of COWM is essential. 2) institutional and legal support system for COWM is desperately urgent. 3) possible international collaboration and cooperation should be sought to untangle these complex cultural dilemmas.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.108-128
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• 2000

The Korean government has implemented the policy for merging 141 health insurers into Korean Unified Health Insurer (KUHI) in July of 2000. The unification of multiple insurers will definitely effect the stability of financial management, equity of premium burdens and efficiency of administrative management. However, it is difficult to predict what forms the far-reaching effects of the unification would take. Thus, pursuing the unification may be express as a huge policy experiment. In order to lead the unification, which lies on a crossroad between success and failure, to the road of success, we need to infer the problems and obstacles predicted in the step-wise processes of merging organizations, finances and the systems of computing premium, and come up with the effective means to maintain the stability of financial management, to improve the equity of premium burdens and to increase the efficiency of administrative management. Thus, I first described the changes of the Korean medical insurance system, and analyzed the performances of self-employed medical insurance 1 year after the integration of societies in October of 1998. At the base of examining the stability of financial management, equity of premium burdens and efficiency of administrative management, I predicted the problems and obstacles that could occur after the unification of the multiple medical insurers, and proposed a few ways of leading the unification of the multiple medical insurers in Korea to success. The most worried factor is that insurance finance would become unstable since the expansion of premium revenues is not easy because raising the premium for all Koreans is to be difficult. In addition, the unification of insurance finance could weaken the insurer's efforts for declaring real incomes of the self-employed and increasing the collection rate of premiums from them. This weakening would be the decisive factor of lowering the equity of premium contributions between the self-employed and employees. And bureaucratization and rigidity that are unavoidable in a gigantic unified organization could lower the efficiency of administrative management. Furthermore, by having 3 labor unions in the unified organization, it is possible to experience frequent difficulties and discords among the unions and between the unions and organization. Thus, when smooth pursuing of the unification of multiple insurers gets difficult, the social expenses derived from the failure would eventually end up on all Koreans. The unification is to be performed after coming up with the ways to eradicate these worries, so that the unification of multiple insurers would step onto the road of success.