• Health Policy and Management
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.91-114
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• 1996

In this research, the Data Envelopment Analysis(DEA) was applied to measure production efficiency of Public Corporation Medical Centers(PCMCs) operating in Korea. The focus of this research is triple. First, identifing convenience and usefulness of DEA to measure the relative efficiency among PCMCs. Second, assessing magnitudes of the relative efficiency for each PCMC. Third, adding insights into some factors resulting inefficiency in PCMCs. Then, in this paper technical efficiency and scale efficiency measured by DEA[introduced by Charnes, Cooper, and Rhoides(1978) and Banker, Charnes, and Cooper(1984)] were analyzed and a new separate variable was introduced which makes it possible to determine whether operations were conducted in regions of increasing, constant or decresing returns to scale(in multiple input and output situations). And a multi-factor Tobit analysis was conducted to see which variables are associated with PCMC's efficiency.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.345-356
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• 2015

Health service quality is increasingly emphasized, and primary care service is no exception in this. This study identified patients' perception of quality considering convergence factors associated with increased utilization among patients over the age of 65 using community health centers. A total of 307 respondents were included in the analysis. The results showed that positive perceptions on facility and environment, patient-centered care, technical knowledge and skills of physicians, and emotional support with nurses and non-medical workers were statistically and significantly associated with higher utilization. In order to increase utilization of primary care service at community health centers, they need to manage and improve these factors.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.23-34
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• 2018

Background: This study aims to conduct curriculum analysis on health management schools focusing on relationship with licence and certification in Republic of Korea. Methods: Possible employment field, licence and certification as well as curriculum were collected from the home page of 30 health management schools. The subjects and credits of curriculum were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Main subjects by areas were drew using categorization and ranking within qualitative methods. Comparative analysis was conducted for checking relationship between main subject and possible employment field, licence and certification. Results: First, major employment fields after graduation were public health officer, general hospital and clinic, and National Health Insurance Service. Possible licence and certificate were hospital administrator, medical recorder, health education specialist, and medical insurance specialist. Second, total graduate credits were 133.9 including 79.0 for major education, 30.5 for of general education, and 30.5 for elective courses. Third, main subjects were reviewed by areas including basic medicine, health management, hospital business & management, medical records & information, insurance billing & assessment, healthcare marketing & tourism, and health education. There were highest number of subjects on health education area among 8 categories. By subjects, many health management schools open health law, medical terminology, introduction to public health, and biostatistics. Relationship between main subjects and possible employment field, licence and certification in health management schools was strong. Conclusion: It is necessary to review curriculum and for improving educational quality in health management schools. Also, development of curriculum standards for courses in health administration and introduction of accreditation system can be considered.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.95-106
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• 2016

A new manual of System of Health Accounts (SHA) 2011, was published jointly by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Eurostat, and World Health Organization in 2011. This offers more complete coverage than the previous version, SHA 1.0, within the functional classification in areas such as prevention and a precise approach for tracking financing in the health care sector using the new classification of financing schemes. This paper aims to demonstrate current health expenditure (CHE) and National Health Accounts of the years 1970-2014 constructed according to the SHA2011. Data sources for public financing include budget and settlement documents of the government, various statistics from the National Health Insurance, and others. In the case of private financing, an estimation of total revenue by provider groups is made from the Economic Census data and the household income and expenditure survey, Korean healthcare panel study, etc. are used to allocate those totals into functional classifications. CHE was 105 trillion won in 2014, which accounts for 7.1% of Korea's gross domestic product. It was a big increase of 7.7 trillion won, 7.9%, from the previous year. Public share (government and compulsory schemes) accounting for 56.5% of the CHE in 2014 was still much lower than the OECD average of about 73%. With these estimates, it is possible to compare health expenditures of Korea and other countries better. Awareness and appreciation of the need and gains from applying SHA2011 for the health expenditure classification are expected to increase as OECD health expenditure figures get more frequently quoted among health policy makers.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.75-87
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• 2004

The purpose of this paper is to compare the amount of household health expenditures (HHE) and the proportion of health care expenditure to the household expenditure by ability to pay(ATP) levels. This study has focused on the influence of household ATP on HHE, estimating elasticity of health care expenditures for different ATP groups. For the empirical analysis, the Urban Households Survey Data of 2002 have been used. Our principal findings show that HHE are sensitive to changes in household ATP levels and that the group which is most responsive to changes in A TP level is the lower ATP group. These suggest that as households have less ATP, households with lower ATP reduce expenditures on health care in a proportional manner than those with higher ATP.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.303-313
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• 2013

During last 65 years, Korea has achieved very rapid economic growth and social reformation including healthcare system. Many foreigners have praised that Korea healthcare system is very good in the respect of ease accessibility to healthcare under the lowest cost among the industrialized countries. Whole population are covered by the National Health Insurance. Also utilizations of healthcare among different income classes are even. However Korea healthcare system faced with several challenges, in terms of the an aging population and a rise in chronic disease problem, new threats of communicable disease due to globalization, the rapid increase of healthcare expenditure and high financial burden of patients even though they are insured. To cope with these challenges, we need reconsider the healthcare system as followings; to set up ideology of healthcare as normative public goods, to rebuild paradigm of healthcare for 21 century, to reform public health for strengthening health promotion, to develop new method for healthcare management including quality improvement and consumer responsiveness, to build new governance for health and to view new perspective on healthcare as a kind of industry.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.199-211
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• 2016

Objectives : This study compared the influencing factors on life satisfaction after retirement between public pension and specific corporate pension recipients. Methods : This study used the fifth year data of 2013 from the raw data of the Korean Retirement and Income Study collected by the National Pension Research Institute. The data analysis in this study was done with the chi-square test, t-test, and linear regression using SPSS ver. 22.0 to verify the relevance between the general characteristics of pension recipients. Results : This study shows that there was a difference in expenditures and health care costs between public pension and special corporate pension recipients. The influencing factors on life satisfaction for public pension recipients were the level of spending, whether there were limitations in daily life and social activity, whether recipients had financial assets and health care costs while for specific corporate pension recipients, they were education level, level of spending and chronic diseases. Conclusions : A health policy that maximizes life satisfaction and takes into account the type of pencion needs to be considered and implemented.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.379-385
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• 2005

The impact of the next influenza pandemic is difficult to predict. It is dependent on how virulent the virus is, how rapidly it spreads from population to population, and the effectiveness of prevention and response efforts. Despite the uncertainty about the magnitude of the next pandemic, estimates of the health and economic impact remain important to aid public health policy decisions and guide pandemic planning for health and emergency sectors. Planning ahead in preparation for an influenza pandemic, with its potentially very high morbidity and mortality rates, is essential for hospital administrators and public health officials. The estimat ion of pandemic impact is based on the previous pandemics- we had experienced at least 3 pandemics in 20th century. But the epidemiologi cal characteristics - ie, start season, the impact of 1st wave, pathogenicity and virulence of the viruses and the primary victims of population were quite different from one another. I reviewed methodology for estimation and modelling of pandemic impact and described some nations's results using them in their national preparedness plans. And then I showed the estimates of pandemic influenza impact in Korea with FluSurge and FluAid. And, I described the results of pandemic modelling with parameters of 1918 pandemic for the shake of education and training of the first-line responder health officials to the epidemics. In preparing influenza pandemics, the simulation and modelling are the keys to reduce the uncertainty of the future and to make proper policies to manage and control the pandemics.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.329-336
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• 2017

A review study was conducted to examine the adverse effects of styrene, styrene mixtures, or styrene and/or styrene mixtures and noise on the auditory system in humans employed in occupational settings. The search included peer-reviewed articles published in English language involving human volunteers spanning a 25-year period (1990-2015). Studies included peer review journals, caseecontrol studies, and case reports. Animal studies were excluded. An initial search identified 40 studies. After screening for inclusion, 13 studies were retrieved for full journal detail examination and review. As a whole, the results range from no to mild associations between styrene exposure and auditory dysfunction, noting relatively small sample sizes. However, four studies investigating styrene with other organic solvent mixtures and noise suggested combined exposures to both styrene organic solvent mixtures may be more ototoxic than exposure to noise alone. There is little literature examining the effect of styrene on auditory functioning in humans. Nonetheless, findings suggest public health professionals and policy makers should be made aware of the future research needs pertaining to hearing impairment and ototoxicity from styrene. It is recommended that chronic styrene-exposed individuals be routinely evaluated with a comprehensive audiological test battery to detect early signs of auditory dysfunction.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.195-196
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• 2018

The Korean Academy of Health Policy and Management (KAHPM) has shown remarkable achievements in the field of health policy and management in Korea for the last 30 years. The KAHPM consists of experts in various fields of health policy and management, and has been the leading academic discussion forum for health policy agendas of interest to the public. Health Policy and Management (HPM), the official journal of the KAHPM, published the first issue of volume 1 in October, 1991 and is publishing the second issue of volume 28 as of 2018. Currently, it is one of Korea' main journals in the field of health policy and management. HPM has published a special issue in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the KAHPM. The HPM invited authors, including former presidents of the KAHPM and current board members, to write about main issues in health policy and management. Although the HPM tried to set up an invited author on all subjects in the health policy and management field, 19 papers are published, that completed the peer review process by August, 2018. The authors of the special issue of the 30th anniversary of the KAHPM include six former presidents, a senior professor, and 12 board members. The subjects of this issue are reform of the healthcare delivery system, health insurance and medical policy, reform of health system governance, the role of National Health Insurance Service (NHIS), the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA) and the National Evidence-based healthcare Collaborating Agency (NECA), ethical aspects of health policy change, regional disparities of healthcare, healthcare accreditation, new healthcare technology evaluation system, globalization of the healthcare industry, the epidemiological investigator system, the quarantine system, safety and disaster, and official development assistance. There are some remaining topics to deal with for the KAHPM: aged society, anti-smoking, non-infectious disease, suicide, healthcare resources, emergency medical care, out-of-pocket money, medical fee payment system, medical aid system, long-term care insurance, industrial accident compensation insurance, community-centered health welfare system, and central government and local government of health. The HPM will continue to publish review articles on the main topics in health policy and management. This is because the KAHPM, which has been the leading academic society of Korea's health policy and management for the last 30 years, feels responsible for continuing its mission for the next 30 years.