• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.72-109
• /
• 1999

This study is conducted to investigate the current status on the utilization of health care and plan for solving this problem. The claims data of the fiscal tear 1995 obtained from the regional health insurance society are used for the study. The main findings of the study are summarized as follows. Indexes(The Extremal Quotient(EQ), coefficients of variance(CV's))which represent the regional difference in the admission rate of the tertiary medical diagnosis group report that there is difference in quantity and quality of utilization of health care. The admission rate is lower in the big city areas, Kyoungkido, Kangwondo and Chunlapukdo. Even after age-sex adjustment, the admission rate is still low in Kangwondo, Chunlapukdo and Kyoungsangpukdo. The big city areas tend to have higher rates in the expenses per claim, hospital days per claim, and daily expenses but the rates are still low in some area in Kangwondo, Chunlanamdo and Kyoungsangpukdo. This result remains as same after age-sex adjustment. There is a large regional difference in average utilization rate for the tertiary hospital of the tertiary medical diagnosis group: 57.2%(SD 11.53). The utilization rates for the tertiary hospital in their large catchment area are 96.34%, 83.19% and 73.22% in each Kyoungin, Kyoungnam and Kyoungpuk areas whereas it is lower in a Chungpuk and Chungnam areas. The regional differences of health care utilization of the tertiary medical diagnosis group gave some relationships with their geographical characteristics such as socio-economic characteristics and supply factors of medical services. It is important that many medical policies should be developed in order to minimize and balance out the regional differences of health care utilization. The service allocation policy should include the reconstruction of manpower policy, developing the resource allocating formula, finding the self-sufficient catchment area and reforcing of public health services. Moreover, in order to achieve the balanced development by region, they should investigate and consider each county's microscopic properties under the consistent macrocopic policy. The further studies to find causes of regional difference are needed.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.111-123
• /
• 2013

Objectives: This study aimed to share with experiences of a demonstration program based on a community for prevention and management of hypertension and diabetes mellitus, and to supply the evidence of accessible strategies within the community through the public-private partnershipin the near future. Methods: This study case was "the program of registration and management of hypertension and diabetes mellitus patients" which was conducted in Hogncheon-gun in Gangwon-province, 2012. Results: The infrastructure of this center was constructed with the public-private sector partnership according to the basic model of demonstration program since November, 2012. So, the total registered rate of hypertension and diabetes mellitus patients were 26.6% in comparison with suspected patients (to the result of 2011 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey), 37.8% in comparison with the real number of outpatient (to the claims data of 2011 Branch Honcheon-gun, National Health Insurance Corporation), and 107.8% in comparison with the project goal, sequentially. To the patients who were not treated for 30 and 60 days among the registered patients, a recall service was conducted. Through this intervention, it was monitored that this program has enhanced the consecutive treatment rate of the registered patients. Conclusions: To improve the continuous management of hypertension and diabetes mellitus patients, we are gotten to know that the community need the joint participation and mutual cooperation with public-private sector partnership.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.41-50
• /
• 1985

To find out the differences in medical practice according to the environment of patient care and managerial situation of the medical care institutions, normal spontaneous vaginal delivery and acute appendicitis were selected, which is suitable for comparison because of their high comparability. A total of 473 cases of normal spontaneous vaginal delivery and 408 cases of acute appendicitis was sampled from the claims to Korea Medical Insurance Cooperations during January to June 1984. Complicated cases were excluded from population and sampling was restricted from 40 to 60 percentile for total charges by the type of medical care facility in order to rule out the influence originating from case mix. Important items representing type and quantity of medical care service were compared by type of facility. Major findings are as follows : 1. University hospital shows the highest in charges per case and decrease in order of general hospital, and clinic. 2. In case of normal spontaneous vaginal delivery, average length of stay shows statistically significant difference by type of facility. 3. Charge amount for each service item affected by practice pattern shows statistically significant difference mostly by type of facility. It is suggested that medical practice pattern is different by type of facility for medical services. 4. Difference in total medical expenditure by type of facility is affected more with charges for materials, consumables and drugs than with fee for service activity. 5. In administering drugs to patients, hospital and clinic show higher injection rate than university and general hospital. 6. Clinical Laboratory tests were common in order of uninalysis, hemoglobin, hematocrit, white blood cell count, urine microscopic examination in cases of normal spontaneous vaginal delivery; white blood cell count, urinalysis, hemoglobin, hematocrit, urine microscopic examination, white blood cell differential count, in cases of acute appendicitis. 7. The result for Laboratory test and Radiologic study shows extreme difference by type of facility. Test rate is lowest in clinic and increase hospital, general hospital, and university hospital in order, both in type and frequency.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.47 no.2
• /
• pp.84-93
• /
• 2014

Objectives: The incidence and survival rate of colorectal cancer in Korea are increasing because of improved screening, treatment technologies, and lifestyle changes. In this aging population, increases in economic cost result. This study was conducted to estimate the economic burden of colorectal cancer utilizing claims data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. Methods: Economic burdens of colorectal cancer were estimated using prevalence data and patients were defined as those who received ambulatory treatment from medical institutions or who had been hospitalized due to colorectal cancer under the International Classification of Disease 10th revision codes from C18-C21. The economic burdens of colorectal cancer were calculated as direct costs and indirect costs. Results: The prevalence rate (per 100 000 people) of those who were treated for colorectal cancer during 2010 was 165.48. The economic burdens of colorectal cancer in 2010 were 3 trillion and 100 billion Korean won (KRW), respectively. Direct costs included 1 trillion and 960 billion KRW (62.85%), respectively and indirect costs were 1 trillion and 160 billion (37.15%), respectively. Conclusions: Colorectal cancer has a large economic burden. Efforts should be made to reduce the economic burden of the disease through primary and secondary prevention.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.51 no.1
• /
• pp.15-22
• /
• 2018

Objectives: The use of administrative data is an affordable alternative to conducting a difficult large-scale medical-record review to estimate the scale of adverse events. We identified adverse events from 2002 to 2013 on the national level in Korea, using International Classification of Diseases, tenth revision (ICD-10) Y codes. Methods: We used data from the National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort (NHIS-NSC). We relied on medical treatment databases to extract information on ICD-10 Y codes from each participant in the NHIS-NSC. We classified adverse events in the ICD-10 Y codes into 6 types: those related to drugs, transfusions, and fluids; those related to vaccines and immunoglobulin; those related to surgery and procedures; those related to infections; those related to devices; and others. Results: Over 12 years, a total of 20 817 adverse events were identified using ICD-10 Y codes, and the estimated total adverse event rate was 0.20%. Between 2002 and 2013, the total number of such events increased by 131.3%, from 1366 in 2002 to 3159 in 2013. The total rate increased by 103.9%, from 0.17% in 2002 to 0.35% in 2013. Events related to drugs, transfusions, and fluids were the most common (19 446, 93.4%), followed by those related to surgery and procedures (1209, 5.8%) and those related to vaccines and immunoglobulin (72, 0.3%). Conclusions: Based on a comparison with the results of other studies, the total adverse event rate in this study was significantly underestimated. Improving coding practices for ICD-10 Y codes is necessary to precisely monitor the scale of adverse events in Korea.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.4-11
• /
• 2016

Background: Hospital admissions for ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs), which are widely used as an indicator of poor access to primary care, can be used as an efficiency indicator of healthcare use in countries providing good access to health care. Korea, which has a national health insurance (NHI) system and a good supply of health care resources, is one such country. To quantify admission rates of ACSC and identify characteristics influencing variation in Korean health care institutions. Methods: By using NHI claims data, we computed the mean ACSC admission rate for all institutions with ACSC admissions. Results: The average ACSC admission rate for 4,461 institutions was 1.45%. Hospitals and clinics with inpatient beds showed larger variations in the ACSC admission rate (0%-87.9% and 0%-99.6%, respectively) and a higher coefficient of variation (7.96 and 2.29) than general/tertiary care hospitals (0%-19.1%, 0.85). The regression analysis results indicate that the ACSC admission rate was significantly higher for hospitals than for clinics (${\beta}=0.986$, p<0.05), and for private corporate institutions than public institutions (${\beta}=0.271$, p<0.05). Conclusion: Substantial variations in ACSC admission rates could suggest the potential problem of inefficient use of healthcare resources. Since hospitals and private corporate institutions tend to increase ACSC admission rates, future health policy should focus on these types of institutions.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.1-20
• /
• 2008

How health care providers compete and how competition among them affects their behavior are crucial questions in theory and health policy. In ordinary markets, competition improves social welfare, However in health care markets facing uncertainty and information asymmetry, competition can take the form of wasteful quality competition and result in cost increase. The purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics of hospital service markets and examine the impact of hospital competition on hospital behavior, more specifically hospital cost and the size of personnel. Based on patient discharge data of 2002 by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, and health insurance EDI claims data of 2002, this study measures the degree of competition in the inpatient service market of hospitals, using variable radius method and Herfindahl index. The result of the study shows that the hospital service market consists of on average 3.13 government administrative units(shi, gun, or gu). Compared with hospitals, general or general specialized hospitals cover larger markets and operate in more competitive markets. Nearly 60% of patients use hospitals, which are not located in their government administrative units, meaning that market definition based on variable radius is better than the conventional method of market definition based on government administrative units. The results of multivariate analysis show that competition is not associated with high cost index of hospitals. But hospitals in more competitive markets employ larger(more intensive) input of personnel per 100 beds, implying that hospital competition in Korea can have the form of quality and cost-increasing competition.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.8
• /
• pp.3383-3389
• /
• 2014

Background: Prostate cancer is rapidly increasing in Korea and professional societies have requested adding prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing to the National Cancer Screening Program (NCSP), but this started a controversy in Korea and neutral evidence on this issue is required more than ever. The purpose of this study was to provide economic evidence to the decision makers of the NCSP. Materials and Methods: A cost-utility analysis was performed on the adoption of PSA screening program among men aged 50-74-years in Korea from the healthcare system perspective. Several data sources were used for the cost-utility analysis, including general health screening data, the Korea Central Cancer Registry, national insurance claims data, and cause of mortality from the National Statistical Office. To solicit the utility index of prostate cancer, a face-to-face interview for typical men aged 40 to 69 was conducted using a Time-Trade Off method. Results: As a result, the increase of effectiveness was estimated to be very low, when adopting PSA screening, and the incremental cost effectiveness ratio (ICER) was analyzed as about 94 million KRW. Sensitivity analyses were performed on the incidence rate, screening rate, cancer stage distribution, utility index, and treatment costs but the results were consistent with the base analysis. Conclusions: Under Korean circumstances with a relatively low incidence rate of prostate cancer, PSA screening is not cost-effective. Therefore, we conclude that adopting national prostate cancer screening would not be beneficial until further evidence is provided in the future.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.40 no.3
• /
• pp.249-258
• /
• 2007

Objectives : The aims of this study were to estimate the antihypertensive medication adherence in people with a disability and a history of taking antihypertensive medication, and to identify the factors affecting medication adherence. Methods : The National Health Insurance claims data were linked with the National Disability Registry. People with a disability, who received a prescription of antihypertensives, were identified from a total of 85,098 cases. Cumulative medication adherence (CMA) was used as an indicator of medication adherence. A CMA > 80% was defined as appropriate medication adherence. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to identify the factors affecting medication adherence. Results : The average CMA in a total of 85,098 patients was 79.5%. The appropriate adherence $(CMA{\geq}80%)$ rate was 54.5% and 20.5% of patients had a CMA < 50%. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that the probability of appropriate adherence decreased with decreasing number of prescription days per visit, increasing number of providers, the patients' residential area moving from urban to rural areas, and when patients have an internal organ disability, auditory impairment, mobility impairment. Conclusions : The adherence to antihypertensive medication in people with a disability is influenced by various socio-economic, clinical and regional factors. In particular, the disabled who have locomotive and communication disabilities and internal organ impairments have a higher probability of under-adherence to antihypertensive medication adherence in Korea.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.20-25
• /
• 2016

Purpose: Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) is rare autosomal recessive genetic disorder of DNA repair in which the ability to repair damage caused by ultraviolet light is deficient. We reported the first molecularly confirmed Korean patient of XP by targeted exome sequencing. The prevalence of XP included all subtype and carrier frequency of XP-A the using public data were estimated for the first time in South Korea. Materials and Methods: We described a 4-year-old Korean girl with clinical diagnosis of XP. We performed targeted exome sequencing in the patient for genetic confirmation considering disease genetic heterogeneity and for differential diagnosis. We verified a carrier frequency of c.390-1G>C in XPA gene known as mutational hot spot using Korean Reference Genome Data Base. We estimated the period prevalence of all subtypes of XP based on claims data of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service in South Korea. Results: We identified homozygous splicing mutation of XPA (c.390-1G>C) in the patient. The carrier frequency of risk for XPA (c.390-1G>C) was relatively high 1.608 e-03 (allele count 2/1244). The prevalence of XP in South Korea was 0.3 per million people. Conclusion: We expect that c.390-1G>C is hot spot for the mutation of XPA and possible founder variant in South Korea. However, the prevalence in South Korea was extremely low compared with Western countries and Japan.