• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.11 no.7
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• pp.271-279
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• 2013

This study has significance in terms of its intent to contribute to the increase in hospital revisits by proposing measures to enhance name awareness through an examination of the relationship between the name awareness of public medical institutions and patients' revisit, and its corresponding influences. The study findings were drawn by employing analysis methods such as frequency analysis, reliability and exploratory factor analysis, t-tests, ANOVA, correlation analysis, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The results of the correlation analysis showed statistically significant correlations between all independent variables and the patients' revisit or not. The perception of service quality and the environmental factor of medical treatment increased the explanatory power of independent variables, thereby exhibiting a high correlation with the revisit to medical institutions. The usual image, medical service, and medical treatment environment were revealed to have a positive influence on the patient's intent to revisit. This study could confirm a correlation between the name awareness of medical public institutions and the patients' revisit or not. Consequently, to improve the quality and infrastructure of their medical services, public medical institutions are required to perform studies on measures to increase the revisits of patients by identifying their image, medical services, and treatment environment on a consistent basis.

• Journal of Wellbeing Management and Applied Psychology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.1-7
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• 2023

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the characteristics of airborne radon concentration by season in public-use facilities in South Korea. Research design, data and methodology: The data is provided by the public data portal, and public-use facilities nationwide where radon in the air is measured are specialized sanatorium for senior citizens, libraries, childcare facilities, postpartum care centers, medical institutions, funeral halls, underground shopping malls, and underground subway stations. Results: The facility with the highest radon concentration in public-use facilities was childcare facilities with an average of 50.2 ± 21.7 Bq/m³, while the average of medical institutions was the lowest at 24.8 ± 5.7 Bq/m³. The season with the largest difference in average radon concentration between childcare facilities and medical institutions was in the order of fall (28.6 Bq/m³), followed by winter (28.1 Bq/m³), spring (23.0 Bq/m³), and summer (22.0 Bq/m³). Conclusions: The main concentration levels of each public-use facility shown in this study are all below domestic and international standards, but there is a significant concentration difference between facilities. By season, winter showed the highest average concentration (40.6 ± 21.3 Bq/m³) and summer showed the lowest average concentration (23.8 ± 14.0 Bq/m³).

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.16-25
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• 2019

Purpose:The healthcare system of South Korea is at the extreme of the dispersed system. Few regulations limit patients from directly visiting higher-level medical institutions for primary care sensitive conditions. As a result, similar to local clinics, general and tertiary teaching hospitals also provide diverse primary care services. Our study aimed to examine the general public's perceptions of their primary care performance. Methods: Face-to-face surveys were conducted with 1000 adults who were living in South Korea with the aid of a questionnaire that included the Korean Primary Care Assessment Tool (KPCAT). The KPCAT consists of five domains, which are the main indicators of primary care performance: first contact, comprehensiveness, coordination, personalized care, and family/community orientation. One-way analysis of variance and post hoc tests were used to compare the KPCAT scores across the three types of medical institutions. Results: Domain-wise analyses revealed two different patterns. With regard to first contact and its subdomains, the highest and lowest scores emerged for local clinics and tertiary teaching hospitals, respectively. However, the other four domain scores were significantly lower for local clinics than for the other two types of medical institutions. Conclusions: Local clinics were perceived to be medical institutions that are responsible for providing primary care. However, the general public perceived only one domain of their primary care to be superior to that of the other two types of medical institutions: first contact. National efforts should be taken to strengthen their other four domains of primary care by training their workforce and providing appropriate incentives.

• Journal of Wellbeing Management and Applied Psychology
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.63-68
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• 2023

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the national obligation of public health support for residents in medically vulnerable areas in Korea, and to propose a suitable model for public health institutions in this region. Research design, data, and methodology: A survey targeting residents was conducted from August 10 to August 17, 2021, with a sample size of 177 general citizens. The survey utilized a structured questionnaire administered online through Google, employing convenience random sampling. After an editing process to ensure data accuracy, the final dataset of 174 valid samples underwent encoding, coding, and cleaning using the IBM SPSS Statistics 22.0 program for analysis. Results: Health status revealed a moderate level, and 63.8% reported having chronic diseases, particularly prevalent among the elderly. External healthcare institutions were commonly utilized, with proximity and competence of doctors being primary reasons. Respondents expressed a need for improving the public health and medical system, emphasizing the establishment of a County Health Centre and expanding medical departments. Conclusions: In this region, the region's unique challenges, including education, employment, population decline, aging, and transportation, require multidimensional efforts and urgent intervention by public entities. Long-term strategies involve considering the establishment of a health and medical institute, adjusting health centre resources to local realities, and fostering a cooperative system for collaboration among residents and institutions.

• Korean Medical Education Review
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.10-17
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• 2022

South Korea is not a wasteland of publicly funded health care-instead, it has a good medical social security system known as the national health insurance (NHI). The NHI of Korea has three unique features; (1) low premiums, low insurance fees, and low coverage; (2) obligatory designation of medical institutions; (3) and allowance of non-benefit services. These features have made hospitals and doctors interested in profit-seeking. However, the commercialization of medical institutions has taken place in both private- and public-established sectors. A basic problem of commercialization is the co-existence of the obligatory designation of medical institutions and non-benefit services. The problem became worse in the Kim Dae-Jung government because it officially permitted non-benefit services. Since 2000, the Korean government has consistently pursued benefit extension policies, but the coverage rates of the NHI have stagnated. In addition, premiums and current medical expenses have markedly increased because policy-makers have emphasized accessibility to the NHI, while ignoring important principles of medical social security such as a needs-based approach and patient-referral system. In order to resolve the commercialization problem, the obligatory designation of medical institutions to the NHI should be changed to a contract system, and non-benefit services should be prohibited at NHI institutions. We must re-establish the patient-referral system via a needs-based approach. We also need to build a primary healthcare system and public health policies. We should make a long-term plan for healthcare reform.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.113-123
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• 2006

Objective : This research is focused on understanding the current status of the Health Smart Card already in use in other advanced countries. This research will analyze the current status of the medical institutions Health Smart Card system adoption process and its effects, and provide a basis for future policy decisions for the effective adoption and diffusion of a Health Smart Card system, in the medical field, through the completed research and analysis. Method : This research surveys the domestic, and foreign, status of Health Smart Card usage. The research also presents up-to-date methodology for the evaluation of the effects of medical and health care technology. The research also conducts a survey of the domestic medical institutions that have implemented a Health Smart Card system, and then analyzes the results of the survey. Additionally, the research carried out a survey and analysis of medical institutions with no Health Smart Card system implemented, and considered the factors affecting the diffusion of Health Smart Card systems in considering an effective policy for the introduction and diffusion of such a system. Research Results : Through the study of the methodology of medical and health care information technology in advanced countries, the methodology for assessing Health Smart Card technology has been established, and focuses on 6 aspects. The study on the status of foreign implementation has shown a model for the Health Smart Card system. A survey was conducted on the current status of medical institutions with an implemented Health Smart Card system, and the survey results have been analyzed. Also, factors influencing the adoption of Health Smart Card systems have been analyzed through the survey on those medical institutions that have not implemented a Health Smart Card system. Conclusion : The government must provide institutional measures for sharing medical records by constructing an IT infrastructure at the national level to enable the adoption and diffusion of a Health Smart Card system. Such a network will make connections between medical institutions possible, thus making the diffusion of the Health Smart Card system nationwide. For the successful adoption and diffusion of a Health Smart Card system, a model system development, under a medical record sharing system, should be conducted. Additionally, a regional unit based model should be developed for the model project, as is done in advanced countries, along with the application of such results.

• East Asian Journal of Business Economics (EAJBE)
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.65-74
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• 2022

Purpose - With the increasing medical demands of the public, the development of future Internet medical care has come to represent a major problem. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to discuss future development strategies for Interne medical care while taking China's Internet hospitals as an example case. Research design, data, and methodology - This study conducted a case study of China's Internet hospitals to summarize the fundamental problems faced by Internet hospitals and propose future development strategies to overcome these problems for Internet medical care. Result - Although Internet hospitals have been regarded as the ultimate product of Internet medical care, from the perspective of the government, medical institutions, platforms builders and maintainers, and patients, they still face some basic issues. Conclusion - This study concludes that the government and medical institutions play an important role in the future development of Internet medical care and suggests that the government should make overall plans for the policies and standards and should play the main role in enhancing the public trust in Internet medical care, while medical institutions should take steps such as seizing policy opportunities, driving online and offline collaborations, and constructing suitable evaluation systems to promote the development of Internet medical care.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.81-86
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• 2018

Purposes: The purpose of this study is to argue that the taxation system for non-for-profit medical institution in Korea should be revised and that the basic direction should be to expand tax exemption like the US. Methods: We analyzed the US context of taxation policy for non-for-profit medical institutions and compared the US and Korean situation. Findings: In the United States, for-profit or non-for-profit medical institutions eternities are the most important criteria for hospital classification. Basically, full tax-exemption has been applied for non-for-profit medical institutions. The reason why many hospitals maintain their status as non-for-profit are following. First, the American society places great importance on the social responsibility and role of non-for-profit hospitals. Second, maintaining the status of non-for profit medical institutions is financially beneficial while maintaining good social reputation. The most powerful financial incentives are tax deductions and tax deductions for donations. Practical Implications: How will the taxation system for medical institutions in Korea be reformed in the future? First, if Korean government do not allow for-profit medical institutions, Korean government should consider implementing a full tax exemption system suitable for non-profit medical institutions like the US. Second, there are many variation in taxation for non-for-profit medical institution according to their legal positions. Therefore, current taxation system should be revised. Third, the reorganization of such taxation system should be in a direction that can finally encourage community benefit activities of medical institutions of nonprofit hospitals.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.370-375
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• 2023

The responsibility to ensure the health rights of detainees, particularly their medical rights, fundamentally lies with the state in all nations. However, in the correctional facilities of the Republic of Korea, these rights are currently not adequately safeguarded. Numerous detainees express dissatisfaction with the medical services provided and show a preference for voluntary external treatment. However, barriers such as prolonged application processes for external treatment and the requirement for detainees to cover their medical expenses present significant challenges. Therefore, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea has advocated for an increased medical budget in correctional facilities and a bolstered professional medical workforce to improve the medical care of detainees. Recommendations for improvements include: (1) establishing dedicated correctional hospitals for detainees, (2) setting up specialized correctional wards, (3) collaborating with military hospitals, (4) launching mobile medical buses for diverse specialties, (5) enhancing collaboration with public and private medical institutions, (6) increasing compensation for partnering external medical institutions, (7) improving the working conditions of medical officers, (8) safeguarding the defense rights of medical staff, (9) improving the working conditions of public health doctors from the Ministry of Justice in correctional facilities, and (10) pre-assigning public health specialists and military doctors to correctional facilities. By implementing these measures, it is anticipated that the quality of medical services in the Republic of Korea's correctional facilities will improve, reducing the demand for external treatments among detainees and ensuring their health and medical rights are realistically upheld.

• Journal of Wellbeing Management and Applied Psychology
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.45-51
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• 2021

Purpose: This aims to find a strategic plan for the feasibility study of a medical center extension project in order for local public medical institutions to obtain public interest and profitability through a survey of residents. Research design, data and methodology: The structured questionnaire was distributed at random, and a total of 219 people responded as users or patients responded to the questionnaire in a self-filling manner. Through this questionnaire, the feasibility and necessity of the extension of Gangneung Medical Center(GMC) was measured. All data processing was analyzed by applying version 26.0 of IBM SPSS statistical package program. The main contents of the questionnaire included reasons for using GMC, inconveniences, overall level of medical care, satisfaction, intention to revisit, the necessity of GMC's complex ward extension project, and GMC consisted of 8 questionnaires, including the desired service for the extension of the complex ward. Results: As for the necessity of the GMC complex ward extension project, 95.9% of residents said they wanted the complex ward extension project, 2.3% said it was not necessary, and the remaining 1.8% had other opinions. Conclusions: GMC complex ward extension project is necessary.