• Health Policy and Management
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.228-241
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• 2014

Background: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of health insurance coverage expansion for cancer patients on equity in health care utilization and catastrophic expenditure. Methods: To analyze the causal relationship between the policy to expand benefit coverage and the change in health care utilization and out-of-pocket payments of cancer patients, this study employed a difference-in-differences (DID) method. In the DID model, the change in health care utilization, such as health care expenditure, visit days and length of stay, of cancer patients was compared with that of liver disease patients, using Korea Health Panel Data in 2009 and 2010. Results: The policy of reducing cost sharing from 10% to 5% for cancer patients did not have significant effects on equity in health care utilization. The results of this study were different from those of the previous study that showed that the reduction of cost sharing from 20% to 10% significantly improved the equity in health care utilization of cancer patients. In addition, the result of catastrophic expenditures analysis showed the policy did not change the probability of catastrophic expenditures. Conclusion: The results of this study imply that payment for non-covered services account for high out-of-pocket payments, and the reduction in cost sharing for covered services alone may have a limited effect on total financial burden on patients.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.36 no.7
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• pp.1193-1203
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• 2006

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the current status of utilization and costs of home health nursing care by the levels of medical institutes in Korea. Method: A secondary analysis of existing data was used from the national electronic data information(EDI) of 148 home health agencies for 6 months from May to Oct 2005 in total. Result: The 148 agencies had multiple services in cerebral infaction, essential hypertension, sequoia of cerebrovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, etc.. The highest 10 rankings of 76 categories of home health nursing services were composed of 96.4% of the total services, such as simple treatment, inflammatory treatment, urethra & bladder irrigation, inserting indwelling catheter etc., in that order. The highest 20 rankings of 226 categories of home examination services were composed of 77.0% of the total home examination services. In addition, the average cost of home health care per visit was 46,088 Won (${\fallingdotseq}$ 48 $, 1 $=960 Won). The costs ranged from 74,523 Won (${\fallingdotseq}$78 $, loss of chronic kidney function, N18) to 32,270 Won (${\fallingdotseq}$34 $, other cerebrovascular diseases, 167). Conclusion: Results suggest that client characteristics of hospital based HHNC are not different from community based HHNC or visiting nursing services for elderly. The national results will contribute to baseline data used to establish a policy for the home health nursing care system and education.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.851-860
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• 2010

Objectives : This study examined the oral health behavior and dental services utilization of adolescents in order to provide information on how to disseminate the correct oral health behavior to the youth and develop programs for the approach. Methods : The raw data of 'The Third 2007 Youth Health Behavior Online Survey' carried out by the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention were analyzed. All survey data collected was processed using SPSS ver 17.0 for data analysis as Frequency analysis, chi-square and Logistic regression analysis. Results : 1.The adolescents who have parents with college degree are 70% higher of dental services utilization than the adolescents counterpart(whose parents don't have degrees). And also the adolescents living in cities are 1.3 times higher use of dental services than others living in countries. 2. In case of drinking soda, students having soda 4 days per week on average are 1.2 times higher use of dental services than who don't. 3.The students brushing teeth after lunch are 0.9 times lower use of dental service than who don't. And the students who have tooth ache whenever they have a meal are 1.6 times higher use of dental service than the students who don't have tooth ache. The students who had a dental health education are 1.4 times higher utilization of dental service than who don't. The difference of using dental service between the students who have gum disease and halitosis and the students who don't is almost none. 4. The students who drink alcohol and smoke 10 days more or less a month are 0.8 ~ 0.9 times lower use of dental service than who don't. Conclusions : The rate of utilizing dental service is higher at students who live with parents having college degrees and the more have oral health behavior, the less use of dental service for treatment. We concluded that more educational program should be developed and vitalized so that students can have oral health.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.27-38
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• 2012

This study is to find out the correlation among the predisposing, enabling, and need factors in Anderson Behavioral Model using the data from Korea Medical Panel Survey conducted in the early part (April 1 - October 31) of 2008. The findings are as follows. It was found that the utilization rate of western medical service was far higher. the influential factor to choose western or oriental medical service taking western medical institutions as the reference group, the influential factor to choose oriental medical institution has significantly increased when the patient who have covered by medical insurance has one accompanied disease and their age was between 45 - 74, compared to the people less than 45 years old. It also increased when the age of the patient was between 45-54 years old, and in the event those who are not covered by medical insurance have accompanied disease and that the disease mobility period is 2-4 years. reviewing the several characteristics of the utilization of western and oriental medical services by the patient with musculoskeletal system disorders, the number of accompanied disease is an influential factor for the utilization of oriental medical services. And, disease mobility period is a significant factor for the utilization of both western and oriental medical services together, though it is not identified in this study. Therefore, it is expected that mutual cooperation between western and oriental medical services is more required for the patient with musculoskeletal system disorders as the aging society rapidly develops. In order to foster oriental medicine, it is required to specialize in competitive disease such as musculoskeletal system disorders.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.53-66
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• 2015

Purpose: This study was considered in order to identify the factors affecting healthcare utilization by Asian immigrants in the United States. Methods: From February to April 2011, a descriptive survey study was conducted in a convenience sample of 250 Korean and Asian Indian immigrants aged between 40 and 64 in the Triangle area of North Carolina. An author-developed instrument was used to assess predisposing, enabling, and need factors according to Anderson's Behavioral Model of Health Services. Utilization Data analysis was performed by $X^2$-test, t-test, and binary logistic regression. Results: Participants' healthcare services experiences were significantly different when they had a longer stay in the U.S., had been employed, had higher income, were Asian Indians, had better English-speaking skills, better health status, more knowledge of health system and health insurance, had higher satisfaction with the healthcare system, and when they were taking prescribed medications and having health insurance. The strongest association with experience of healthcare services was having health insurance with an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 15.37 (95% CI 4.95-47.71, p<.001) and self-reported English proficiency (OR=1.99, 95% CI 1.00-3.96, p=.05). Conclusion: Intervention strategies to increase accessibility to healthcare services should focus on these significant predictors.

• The Korean Nurse
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• v.20 no.3 s.111
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• pp.58-65
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• 1981

It is desirable to utilize the community health resources to manage community health services effectively with limited personnel, time and facilities. This study was conducted to determine the utilization of community health resources. During the period o

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.263-269
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• 2006

Objectives: As the number of people with disabilities is increasing and their needs for care are varied, the continuum and comprehensiveness of their rehabilitative care are getting more important. This study was performed to understand the utilization of rehabilitation services and requirements of care among the people with severe disabilities in Korea. Methods: We interviewed 578 disabled persons who had severe extremity and cerebral impairment in the urban and rural areas of Korea. The questionnaire included questions on their general characteristics, the type of disability, their physical function (ADL, IADL), their use of rehabilitation services after discharge and their requirements for rehabilitation care Results: Only 12.6% of people with disability in the community continuously used the available medical rehabilitation care. The associated factors for utilization of rehabilitation services were pain and admission for rehabilitative treatment in the acute phase. There was a great need for rehabilitation services in community and this varied according to gender, the socio-economic status, the functional status and the geographic region. The gap between utilization and need for rehabilitation services was largest in the economic support. The gap of primary health care was larger in the rural area than in the urban area. Conclusions: The needs for rehabilitation service were diverse according to the individual functional status, the regional characteristics and other general characteristics of people with disability. Strategies should be considered to eliminate the barriers to obtain rehabilitation services for the people with disability in the community.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.33-51
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• 2007

The disabled population is a vulnerable group, having very complex medical conditions, but little is known about differences in the level of access by type of disability. This study was performed to investigate the differences of health care utilization by the type of disability. The database was constructed from registry of the disabled and health insurance and medical aid claims data submitted to the Korea Health Insurance Cooperation during in the year 2003. The disability classified three groups according to the Disabled Welfare Act; physically disability with external dysfunction, physically disability with organic disease, and mentally disability. There were huge differences in health care utilization by the type of disability. For the inpatient care, those with a mental disability were more likely to utilize health care services in terms of average visit number of medical facilities and visit days per case, but the treatment amount per case was the highest in physically disabled with organic disease. For the outpatient care, those who the physically disabled with organic disease were more likely to utilize health care services in terms of average visit number of medical facilities, treatment amount per case, and the treatment days per case. Also, those who physically disabled with organic disease were more likely to utilize general hospital for both inpatient and outpatient care, and spent more out-of-pocket expenditure. As the number of persons with disabilities rises, the need to consider new approaches to protecting their health grows increasingly. Especially, Korean health care system should be refined to be more responsive to the needs of the type of disability.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.83-97
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• 2016

Objectives : This study analyzed the factors that determine the use and type of medical examination services (MES) to develop a model explaining the use behavior of MES which could consequently contribute to policy implications for medical examinations. Methods : Based on Anderson's healthcare utilization model, the MES utilization model was developed by including the perceived needs for MES. The data were collected from an online survey of a population aged 20-39 years and from a telephone survey of a population aged 40 years or older, respectively. Chi-Square tests and hierarchical logistic regression analyses were done with SAS version 9.3. Results : Generally, as health status became lower, the use of MES increased. However, patients with two or more chronic diseases were less likely to use private MES compared to patients with one chronic disease. The perceived needs for MES were only related to the use of service and not to the choice of the MES type. Conclusions : There were different results for the significant determinants between the use of the MES and the choice of the MES type. The healthcare industry needs to aware of consumer needs to provide MES based on empirical findings.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.66-77
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• 2009

This study aims to examine the effect of socioeconomic status (hereafter, SES) on healthcare utilization of the patients with rare and incurable diseases. Information of 2,973 patients who were self-employed insured and utilized healthcare service in 2007 was drawn from the National Health Insurance (hereafter, NHI) claim data. SES was set as four groups based on the monthly contribution. Outcome variable was the expense for outpatient and in-hospital services, which was log-transformed and square-rooted in oder to obtain normal distribution. Covariates included age, gender, residence and diagnosis. To examine the effects after controlling for covariates, we employed generalized estimating equation model, since patients with the same diagnosis are likely to have similar characteristics of demographics and healthcare utilization. Univariate statistics showed that lower SES was associated with less utilization of healthcare services. After controlling for covariates, a significantly smaller amount of money was expended for the lowest SES group compared to the highest one. Rural residence was associated with less utilization, except that residents in Seoul significantly more utilized outpatient services in tertiary hospitals. Considering that there is a subsidy program for the low income patients, such differences in healthcare utilization according to SES seems to result from the burden of out-of-pocket payments for uncovered services of the NHI.