• Journal of Digestive Cancer Research
• /
• 제11권2호
• /
• pp.104-107
• /
• 2023

The Ministry of Health and Welfare of Korea has implemented various social security programs to ensure a basic standard of living and raise overall quality of life for all citizens. The Korean social security system provides social insurance, public assistance, and social welfare services. To achieve adequate drug benefits, the Drug Management Department of Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) implement drug management duties including drug listing, upper price limit setting, scope of benefits, and post-factum management. When a manufacturer or an importer wants to apply for National Health Insurance (NHI) coverage of the drug that has obtained safety and efficacy approval, the pharmaceutical benefit assessment committee of HIRA evaluates the drug's clinical efficacy and cost-effectiveness to determine whether or not to include the drug into the benefit package. The benefit standards for a listed drug (ingredient) are set either for the whole permitted range or a part of range with conditions. To increase the coverage rate for new drugs, the listed drugs are regularly reviewed for their value. The status of listed drugs can be adjusted or eliminated from the benefit package if the clinical efficacy turns out to be insignificant. Therefore, through these pharmaceutical management procedures, high-quality drugs are provided at reasonable prices, which save healthcare expenditure by price determination and selective coverage in consideration of economic evaluation.

• 보건의료산업학회지
• /
• 제7권1호
• /
• pp.69-82
• /
• 2013

The initial approach to this study is to focus on pharmaceutical companies' internal marketing activities for organizational diagnosis. By analysing the influence of internal marketing elements on the job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention of pharmaceutical salespeople, this study aims at coming up with ways to strengthen the sales capacity and competitive edge of pharmaceutical companies through the salespeople's satisfaction. For 32 days between November 10th and December 12th of 2012, a total of 210 copies of questionnaires were given to the respondents and 203 of them except 7 with insufficient answers were used for the final analysis. The analysis result showed that internal communication, delegation of authority, and reward system among the elements of internal marketing activity had a positive influence on the workers' job satisfaction. The internal marketing activity elements did not influence the respondents' organizational commitment. Job satisfaction had a positive influence on their organizational commitment, while it had a negative influence of turnover intention. The conclusion section encapsulated the results of empirical analysis and proposed practical lessons regarding pharmaceutical companies' internal marketing.

• 한국인공지능학회지
• /
• 제5권2호
• /
• pp.1-14
• /
• 2017

This research proposes a method to provide visually impaired persons with better medical services and to mitigate their difficulties in taking medicines in their daily lives. Normally, pharmaceutical information are distributed in a form of printed materials, but it is not accessible by those who are visually impaired. Since persons who are visually impaired by accidents or diseases are required to take more types of medicines compared to other handicapped persons, and thus it is an important matter to let them have appropriate medicines at the right time. Although there are several web sites which are run by the Ministry of Health and Welfare providing pharmaceutic information, the information on those web sites are duplicated and some of the menus are similar, and thus giving users difficulties and discomfort in finding appropriate pharmaceutical information. Since ontology can define and describe the resource in an information system more clearly, in this research, an ontology consists of pharmaceutical information and knowledge on medicines is constructed to give patients more precise information more efficiently. Also, a service in which users can have voice guidance on pharmaceutical information retrieve from the ontology-based information system by contacting RFID sticker on the medicine to the reader.

• 대한의사협회지
• /
• 제61권11호
• /
• pp.687-698
• /
• 2018

Inappropriate antibiotic use significantly contributes to antibiotic resistance, resulting in reduced antibiotic efficacy and an increased burden of disease. The objective of this study was to investigate the characteristics of prescribers whose antibiotics use was high and to explore factors affecting the use of antibiotics by medical institutions. This study analyzed the National Health Insurance claims data from 2015. Antibiotic prescription data were analyzed in terms of the number of defined daily doses per 1,000 patients per day, according to the World Health Organization anatomical-therapeutic-chemical classification and methodologies for measuring the defined daily dose. We investigated the characteristics of prescribers and medical institutions with high antibiotic use. Multivariate regression analyses were performed on the basis of characteristics of the medical institution (number of patients, type of medical institution [hospital or clinic], age of the physician, etc.). The number of patients and number of beds were found to be significant factors affecting antibiotic use in hospitals, and the number of patients, region, and medical department were significant factors affecting antibiotic use at the level of medical institutions. These findings are expected to help policy-makers to better target future interventions to promote prudent antibiotic prescription.

• 보건행정학회지
• /
• 제28권4호
• /
• pp.402-410
• /
• 2018

Background: Monitoring appropriate medication categories can provide early warning of certain disease outbreaks. This study aimed to present a methodology for selecting and monitoring medications relevant to the surveillance of acute respiratory tract infections, such as influenza. Methods: To estimate correlations between acute febrile respiratory tract infection and some medication categories, the cross-correlation coefficient (CCC) was used and established. Two databases were used: real-time prescription trend of antivirals, anti-inflammatory drugs, antibiotics using Drug Utilization Review Program between 2012 and 2015 and physicians' number of encounters with acute febrile respiratory tract infections such as influenza outbreaks using the national level health insurance claims data. The seasonality was also evaluated using the CCC. Results: After selecting six candidate diseases that require extensive monitoring, influenza with highly specific medical treatment according to the health insurance claims data and its medications were chosen as final candidates based on a data-driven approach. Antiviral medications and influenza were significantly correlated. Conclusion: An annual correlation was observed between influenza and antiviral medications, anti-inflammatory drugs. Suitable models should be established for syndromic surveillance of influenza.

• 보건의료산업학회지
• /
• 제14권1호
• /
• pp.55-65
• /
• 2020

Objectives: To provide guidance for agency planning by identifying barriers faced by Korean pharmaceutical companies in global regulatory affairs. Methods: A questionnaire survey on global regulatory affairs was administered by email to personnel at Korean pharmaceutical companies. From a total of 60, 28 responses were collected. Respondents' companies were classified as small-sized or large-sized, based on whether their annual sales amounted to KRW 100 billion. Results: Small-sized companies were experiencing greater difficulties in receiving drug approvals from advanced countries, particularly during the Investigational New Drug (IND) and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) processes. Conclusions: Support measures to specifically help small-sized companies enter more advanced markets and further improved global regulatory guidelines that can meet large-sized companies' expectations are needed. Moreover, domestic and global regulatory standards should be harmonized to benefit both groups.

• 한국병원경영학회지
• /
• 제23권2호
• /
• pp.18-27
• /
• 2018

Purposes: This study aims to investigate the policy effect of mandatory application of DRG for 7 disease groups in general and tertiary hospitals. Methodology: As DRG was fully implemented in July 2013, this study compares two periods before and after the change(from July 2012 to June 2013, and from July 2013 to June 2014). The benefit claim data of the National Health Insurance Service was used for the comparison. Target patients were those who visited general or tertiary hospitals between July 2012 to June 2014. For pharmaceutical consumption, Interrupted Time Series (ITS) analysis was used to see the effect of DRG mandatory application. Findings: The number of drugs prescribed per patient and pharmaceutical expenditure both showed significant reduction compared to before the DRG implementation. Practical Implications: This study used 2 sets of 1 year period data from before and after the full implementation of DRG to analyze pharmaceutical consumption. When the comparison data accumulates further, it would be possible to conduct more diverse analysis to assess policy effect and to provide way forward for the future.

• 한국임상약학회지
• /
• 제30권3호
• /
• pp.177-184
• /
• 2020

Background & objective: The Korean government has expanded its benefit coverage to enhance patients' access to orphan drugs and cancer medicines. However, the number of new drugs whose indications were not applied to reimbursement in health insurance was increased. This study aimed to understand the perspectives of experts and various stakeholders on the introduction of a new funding program for cancer treatment and orphan drugs. Methods: We conducted email surveys comprising 19 questions, from September 9 to 26, 2016. We distributed questionnaires to members of the Pharmaceutical Benefit Appraisal Committee and Cancer Assessment Committee. We also conducted a qualitative study through group interviews with stakeholders, including pharmaceutical companies and some patient groups for diseases. Results: A total of 35 survey respondents recommended the introduction of a funding program for orphan drugs, whereas 66% recommended the launch of funding for anticancer drugs. In addition, most pharmaceutical companies and patient groups recommended the introduction of new funding programs targeting patients with cancer and rare diseases. However, some participants asserted that it would be more appropriate to modify the existing reimbursement scheme than launch new funding. Conclusion: This study concluded that introducing new funding needs a social consensus to relieve financial hardships at the patient level.

• 유통과학연구
• /
• 제22권7호
• /
• pp.83-94
• /
• 2024

Purpose: This article aims to investigate the influence of pricing and distribution on the level of satisfaction and purchase decisions among consumers of pharmaceutical products in Kazakhstan. Research design, data, and methodology: A mixed-methods research design was utilized, incorporating primary and secondary data. Primary data were collected through a survey administered to customers across various pharmacy types, with 100 valid responses analyzed. Secondary data involved an extensive review of existing literature and analysis of national statistics concerning the pharmaceutical market trends from 2008 to 2022. Results: The results reveal a complex relationship between price perceptions and customer satisfaction. A significant segment of the population views current drug prices as high, which affects their satisfaction levels and purchase decisions. The study also highlights the importance of service quality in enhancing customer satisfaction, suggesting that service improvements could mitigate some of the negative perceptions of pricing. Conclusions: This research contributes to the limited but growing body of knowledge on the impact of pricing strategies on consumer satisfaction in the pharmaceutical sectors of developing countries like Kazakhstan. Focusing on economic and behavioral aspects, this study provides a more holistic understanding of the factors driving consumer satisfaction and purchase behaviors in this critical sector.

• 보건행정학회지
• /
• 제28권4호
• /
• pp.360-368
• /
• 2018

Background: The proportion of pharmaceutical expenditure out of total health-care expenditure in South Korea is high. In 2016, 25.7% of national health insurance (NHI) spending was for pharmaceuticals. Given the increasing demands for the access to newly introduced medicines and following increase in pharmaceutical spending, the management of NHI pharmaceutical expenditure is becoming more difficult. Methods: This study analyzed the data claimed to NHI for pharmaceutical reimbursement from 2010 to 2016. Results: The policy implications with respect to the trends and problems in spending by drug groups were elicited. First, the proportion of off-patent drugs spending which were treated to chronic disease was much higher than anti-cancer drug spending. Second, the spending to the newly introduced high-costed medicine increased, however, current price-reduction mechanism was not sufficient to manage their expenditure efficiently. Conclusion: Our system seems to need several revisions to improve the efficiency of pharmaceutical expenditure and to cope with high-costed medicines. This study suggested that the prices of off-patent drugs need to be regularly readjusted and the Price-Volume Agreement System should be operated more flexibly as well.