• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.475-480
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• 2023

Objectives: This study examined differences in health care spending and characteristics among older adults in Korea by high-cost status (persistently, transiently, and never high-cost). Methods: We identified 1 364 119 older adults using data from the Korean National Insurance Claims Database for 2017-2019. Outcomes included average annual total health care spending and high-cost status for 2017-2019. Linear regression was used to estimate differences in the outcomes while adjusting for individual-level characteristics. Results: Persistently and transiently high-cost older adults had higher health care spending than never high-cost older adults, but the difference in health care spending was greater among persistently high-cost older adults than among transiently high-cost older adults (US$20 437 vs. 5486). Despite demographic and socioeconomic differences between transiently high-cost and never high-cost older adults, the presence of comorbid conditions remained the most significant factor. However, there were no or small differences in the prevalence of comorbid conditions between persistently high-cost and transiently high-cost older adults. Rather, notable differences were observed in socioeconomic status, including disability and receipt of Medical Aid. Conclusions: Medical risk factors contribute to high health care spending to some extent, but social risk factors may be a source of persistent high-cost status among older adults in Korea.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.209-216
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• 2013

By means of the model competition, this research analyzed the factor of patient management, the factor of policy support, and the factor of medical treatment system. Concretely, the factor of policy support forms a positive effects on the factor of medical treatment system. Practically, well-established healthcare policy provide and facilitate the effective medical treatment system. of the hospital. And, in the effective medical treatment system, hospitals try to develop the patient management of the chronic disease. From the empirical research, this paper concluded that the factor of medical treatment system. mediated by the factor of policy support. Also, the factor of medical treatment system promotes the development of patient management in the chronic disease.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.90-97
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• 2019

This study investigated the healthcare status of South Korea and member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). By employing the position value for relative comparison index, healthcare status was measured through the following components: demand, supply, accessibility, quality, and cost. Statistical analysis was conducted through the Mann-Kendall test from analyzing trends from 2000 onwards. Results showed that while Korea, on average, scores higher than the OECD average in most of the investigated components, it is below average in certain indexes including primary care and mental health care. Considering the various health issues that have been raised about these indexes, it is important these components be improved upon by policy-makers.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.109-117
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• 2014

This study tries to find the policy instruments that have used in the process of social insurance policy implementation. The results can be summarized as follows: First, in case of compulsory policy instrument, the government uses the regulation, public enterprise and government insurance in the process of implementing of all the social insurance policy. Second, in the case of mixed policy instrument, the government use the user' contribution in the process of implementing of all the social insurance policy but the subsidy was used in the process of implementing of the medical, pension, unemployment and long-term care insurance for the aged policy. Also, the information and discipline was used in the process of implementing of unemployment insurance policy and the partnership was used in the process of implementing of long-term care insurance for the aged policy. Third, in case of voluntary policy instrument, the government uses the family and community in the process of implementing of almost the whole social insurance policy.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.147-176
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• 1997

This research identifies the most important domains in health care administration from now to the year 2005 and differentiates job skill, konwledge, and ability requirements necessary for successful management. Fellows of the Korean Hospital Association from about thirteen percents of the country responded to mail inquiry. Five of eleven domains, in order of ranked importance, were health care delivery concepts, leadership characteristics, quality management, cost/finance and human resources management. Results indicated that while a business orientation is needed for organizational survival, and equal emphasis on person-oriented skills, knowledge, and abilities is required.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.19-26
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• 1991

Demographic variables have a great deal of impact on the utilization of health services. In this paper, the use of segmented polinomials is shown to be superior to the simple use of dummy variables and simple polinomials in explaining differences in health care utilization with respect to sex and age differences.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.267-279
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• 2009

Child care in Korea has been officially institutionalized due to the legislation of the Child Care Act in 1991. Since then, the predominant social phenomena such as growing female workforce, more intensified female education, and the low birth rates have led the stronger demand for child care at the national level. Accordingly, the supply of child care services and the demand of families using the services have increased dramatically, producing enhancement of the quality of child care via improved and extended laws and regulations. Such movements have arisen academic interests and policy issues to specific sectors with details including child care policies, curriculum and professionals working with young children at child care centers, needs of children and their families attending child care centers, and program evaluations.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.1493-1499
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• 2005

Background. Adequate staffing is necessary to meet patient care needs and provide safe, quality nursing care. In November 1999, the Korean government implemented a new staffing policy that differentiates nursing fees for inpatients based on nurse-to-bed ratios. The purpose was to prevent hospitals from delegating nursing care to family members of patients or paid caregivers, and ultimately deteriorating the quality of nursing care services. Purpose. To examine nurse staffing levels and related factors including hospital, nursing and medical staff, and financial characteristics. Methods. A cross-sectional design was employed using two administrative databases, Medical Care Institution Database and Medical Claims Data for May 1-31, 2002. Nurse staffing was graded from 1 to 6, based on grading criteria of nurse-to-bed ratios provided by the policy. The study sample consisted of 42 tertiary and 186 general acute care hospitals. Results. None of tertiary or general hospitals gained the highest nurse staffing of Grade 1 (i.e., less than 2 beds per nurse in tertiary hospitals; less than 2.5 beds per nurse in general hospitals). Two thirds of the general hospitals had the lowest staffing of Grade 6 (i.e., 4 or more beds per nurse in tertiary hospitals; 4.5 or more beds per nurse in general hospitals). Tertiary hospitals were better staffed than general hospitals, and private hospitals had higher staffing levels compared to public hospitals. Large-sized general hospitals located in metropolitan areas had higher staffing than other general hospitals. Occupancy rate was positively related to nurse staffing. A negative relationship between nursing assistant and nurse staffing was found in general hospitals. A greater number of physician specialists were associated with better nurse staffing. Conclusions. The staffing policy needs to be evaluated and modified to make it more effective in leading hospitals to increase nurse staffing.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.381-396
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• 2011

This study is to investigate the factors affecting the regional rate of certification for long-term care insurance benefits. Analyzed data were the 253,935 certified beneficiaries (equivalent to 4.9% of total elderly population) as long-term care degree (LTC degree) 1~3 extracted from the applicants for long-term care in the beginning stage of the system from April 15 2008 to July 1 2009. Although the data were collected from individuals, after restructured into regional data and then analysed in the unit of 225 administrative regions for the Korean Long-term Care Insurance. The rate of certification was operated as the percentage of people of LTC degree 1~3 to the elderly population in each region. The average rate of certification among regions was 4.91%, and ranged from 2.20% to 8.32%. In the analysing regression models, most socio-demographic variables, applicants' disease characteristics, regional service infrastructure, and the certification interviewer's characteristics were included. The most influencing variables were the disease factors of applicants, especially dementia or cerebrovascular disease rather than arthritis, osteoporosis, or fracture patients were strong factors for the regional rate of certification. However, advanced studies adding more explainable factors on the regional variance of certification rate would be necessary to provide political agenda and measures for evidence-based certification process with high reliability and validity for a sustainable LTC system in Korea.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.283-293
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• 2015

This study explores experiences of male family care worker who are caring for their family members with chronic health conditions at home. Qualitative methodologies were used; semi-structured in-depth interviews with seven participants. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results indicated that men are playing greater roles in the provision of care for family members. Findings are presented as three themes: adaptation of role transformations, development for new relationships, and learning to cope with the unexpected. The results suggest that male family care workers experience changes in the ways that they adapt their traditional roles to the new roles they assume as caregivers. Implications for social workers and other care providers are discussed.