• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.17-25
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• 2012

Objectives: This study was conducted to explore the contemporary perception of traditional Korean medical doctors (TKMDs) on traditional Korean medicine (TKM) policies and issues. Methods: A questionnaire that included traditional medicine policy- and treatment-related issues was sent to 130 TKM medical centers and 4,300 TKM local clinical offices in Korea, and received responses from total 648 TKMDs in 122 TKM medical centers and 465 TKM local clinical offices. Results: Of the responding TKMDs, 40% believed that unification of Western and traditional medicines would benefit both modes of medical treatment, 67.6% were against allowing Chinese doctor certification to be effective in Korea through the Korea-China FTA (Free Trade Agreement), and 57.8% believed that the number of TKMDs should be reduced. We also found that 46.1% of TKMDs believed that more lectures on Western medicine would be needed in schools of TKM. Moreover, 87.5% of respondents regarded medical knowledge as necessary for treatment, and 49.4% believed National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Traditional Medicine (NCCAOM) would be not necessary. TKMDs regarded governmental efforts as more vital than education in schools or individual efforts for enhancement of the traditional medical care market in Korea. To efficiently provide the advantages of complementary CAM, such as cost and safety, detailed research is required when policy is made. Conclusions: The TKM industry must implement policies how the relationship with Western medicine can be better defined under the current dual medical system. On the issue of human resources, more research will be needed on the current policy, which serves to maintain the status quo by blocking the importation of Chinese practitioners and by reducing the number of new practitioners.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.115-147
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• 1992

The purposes of this paper are twofold : to identify what pathway insured patients are seeking medical care services through, and then, to provide the basis for the prediction and evaluation of the effects of a new policy intervention. To change the patient flow across different types of medical care facilities, this intervention has been enforced since July 1, 1989. It is mainly aimed at discouraging the use of the tertiary hospitals by imposing some restrictions on the patient's choice. The data for analysis were obtained from the claims to the insurance for govermment and school employees. The sample was drawn from the claims for about 1% of the enrollees using medical care facilities during 2 years since January 1, 1985. The sample included 91, 483 for 1985 and 81,914 for 1986, among them the number of patients to initiate the use of medical care service were 66,757 and 59,498 respectively. This paper analysed what types of and how many medical care facilities the patient with same disease had used.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.295-310
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• 2023

Background: The long-term care (LTC) group has higher rates of chronic disease and disability registration compared to the general older people population. There is a need to provide integrated medical services and care for LTC group. Consequently, this study aimed to identify medical usage patterns based on the ratings of LTC and the characteristics of benefits usage in the LTC group. Methods: This study employed the National Health Insurance Service Database to analyze the effects of demographic and LTC-related characteristics on medical usage from 2015 to 2019 using a repeated measures analysis. A longitudinal logit model was applied to binary data, while a linear mixed model was utilized for continuous data. Results: In the case of LTC ratings, a positive correlation was observed with overall medical usage. In terms of LTC benefit usage characteristics, a higher overall level of medical usage was found in the group using home care benefits. Detailed analysis by medical institution classification revealed a maintained correlation between care ratings and the volume of medical usage. However, medical usage by classification varied based on the characteristics of LTC benefit usage. Conclusion: This study identified a complex interaction between LTC characteristics and medical usage. Predicting the requisite medical services based on the LTC rating presented a challenge. Consequently, it becomes essential for the LTC group to continuously monitor medical and care needs, even after admission into the LTC system. To facilitate this, it is crucial to devise an LTC rating system that accurately reflects medical needs and to broaden the implementation of integrated medical-care policies.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.132-144
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• 2013

Background: The purpose of this study was to analyze the medical expense change and influencing factors after introducing longterm care insurance system. The study period was 2 years before and after introduction of the system. Methods: We analyzed data collected from two divided group lived in Incheon. Four hundred and eighty-five elderly who received long-term care wage for one year were selected for experimental group. For control group, 1,940 elderly were selected by gender and age stratified random sampling. Difference-In-difference analyses was used for evaluating policy effectiveness. Also multiple regression analyses were conducted to identify the factors associated with total medical expenditures. The control variables were demographic variables, economic status, diseases, and medical examination variables. Results: Difference-in-difference analyses showed that total average medical expenses among long-term patients has decreased by 61.85%. Of these, the hospitalization expenses have decreased by 91.63% and the drug expenses have increased by 31.85%. Multiple regression analyses results showed that total average medical expenses among long-term patients have significantly decreased by 46.5% after introducing the long-term care insurance. The hospitalization expenses have significantly decreased by 148.5%, whereas the drug expenses have increased by 53.6%. And outpatient expenses have increased by 10.4%, but the differences were not statistically significant. Conclusion: The results showed that total medical expenses and hospitalization expenses have decreased after introducing the long-term care insurance. These results could support the opinion that the health insurance spending among long-term patients will be reduced gradually by long-term care insurance through changing medical demand.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.87-106
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• 2001

There has been a series of struggles around the governmental enforcing separation of prescribing and dispensing since the consensus for the policy at May 10, 1995, and the strike among the physicians nationwide at June 19, 2000. This thesis is to review the process of the affair as a whole and find out some achievements and lessons from it. Most visible achievement is that physicians have obtained governmental apology for the enforcing the unprepared policy, and promise to revise the Law on the Pharmaceutical Affairs, to enlarge governmental support for the medical insurance program, to construct a presidential committee for the reformation of medical affairs, and so on. Besides these achievements, physicians have learned much on the relations among them and with society in general. However this is only the first scene on the road to an extensive transformation in the medical area following more critical Issues on the medical reformation.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.1-23
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• 2002

This study examined the influence of the separation of prescribing and dispensing roles(SPD) policy implemented in Korea in July 2000, especially on the change in the net profit of medical institutions. Using the data set from the Korea's National Health Insurance and the previous research, this study elicited the following main results. First, tertiary care institutions was estimated to lose about 631 billion won after the SPD policy. Second, general hospitals and hospitals gained about 557 billion and 564 billion won, respectively. Third, it is shown that clinics also gained 389-659 billion won. Finally, however, the change in net profit of medical institutions after the SPD policy largely depends on different estimation models. Moreover, it also varies from the assumptions on the price differential of a reimbursable drug which worked as cross-subsidy to insufficient physician's fee before the SPD policy. Despite such limitations as lack of data outside of the National Health Insurance's coverage, this study differs from others. This is the first research to explore the effect of the SPD policy on different types of medical institutions and to attempt to purely focus on the SPD policy. In this study, we can draw the policy implication that preparing for a policy change, the government should set up the policy evaluation system to collect the concerned data and develop the methodologies in advance to the policy implementation.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.245-247
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• 2019

Although 19 years have passed since the enforcement of the Framework Act on Health and Medical Services, the Plans for Development of Health and Medical Services has not been established. This Plan is a 5-year basic long-term plan that covers the whole of health and medical services. This Plan should point to the direction of 30 long-term plans of healthcare, and this Plan should serve as a combination and coordination of 30 long-term plans and 22 related laws. The United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan have established long-term healthcare plans (4-, 10-, and 20-year plans, respectively). The long-term health plan of the United States has been approached bottom-up, those of the United Kingdom and Japan have been approached top-down. The rapid environmental changes that Korea is and will be experiencing emphasize urgently the need for establishing the Plan for Development of Health and Medical Services.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.126-147
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• 2000

This paper empirically explores the nature of the medical service industry and its various propagation effects on the economy in the input-output model, as revealed by a comparative analysis between Korea and Japan. The main findings of the paper are as follows; First, the growth of medical industry induces above-average effect on employment. Second, the industry is of the characteristics of weak both backward and forward linkage effects implying a 'final demand dependency industry'. When compared with public service sectors, however, the medical services industry shows stronger backward linkage effect than those sectors. Furthermore, it has strong repercussion effects on the goods industries. Third, in order to produce per unit of services, the medical services industry of Korea uses relatively more drugs and medical devices than that of Japan. In general, it has been shown that production structure of medical service industry in Korea is 'hardware-oriented' one; on the other hand, 'software-oriented' in Japan which means that, as intermediate inputs, outsourcing and informatization has been used than those of Korea. From the findings of the paper it could be emphasized that the medical organizations in Korea should put more efforts on shifting the current hardware-oriented production structure to strengthen core competence by enhancing productivity and by outsourcing to improve efficiency of production process. However, the medical organizations in Korea would not have enough incentives for high value-added production structure because they enjoy high operating surplus. Therefore, it would be necessary that government policy should be taken into account of these environments.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.153-160
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• 2022

As new types of medical devices are emerging through convergence with advanced technology, innovative technologies are becoming hot issues in health policy because of their disruptiveness. This study analyzed the innovative medical device management systems in the US, China and Korea. Innovative medical devices have been defined differently depending on the country's management system, but in common, they are defined as products that do not exist or have dramatically improved performance compare to existing products by applying innovative technologies. Innovative medical devices have been supported by regulatory authorities during product development and approval processes. While the US and China have more than 300 products designated as innovative medical devices with diverse functions, application fields, and manufacturing countries considering the initial situation of the implementation for the system, Korea has only 16 products, mainly radiology and diagnostic devices and made in Korea only as innovative medical device. In addition, Korea shows the highest market approval rate of innovative medical devices compare to the US and China, and it is necessary to prepare the approval process in consideration of product diversity.

• Korean journal of medical education
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.369-372
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• 2018