• 보건행정학회지
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• 제9권2호
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• pp.139-156
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• 1999

Recent changes in the health care environment have directed increasing attention to the number and specialty mix of practicing physicians. A major concern identified in Korean health care system is the serious oversupply of specialists and a relative lack of primary care physicians. Currently only 21% of Korean physicians are primary care physicians(general practitioners and family physicians), and less than 10% of recent medical school graduates are choosing to enter primary care. More primary care physicians are needed to deal with major problems in the current health care system, such as cost and access. The infrastructure that relies on primary care physicians is needed to deliver cost-effective and efficient care. To achieve a better balance of primary care to non-primary care physicians. more medical students need to choose careers in one of the primary care specialties(family medicine. internal medicine and pediatrics). This paper suggests the necessity of reforming the Korean graduate medical education system, that is, establishing the path of training primary care physicians in internal medicine and pediatrics residency training programs.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제26권4호
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• pp.614-627
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• 1993

It is well known that a physician's personal characteristic affects his practice pattern. Furthermore, a physician's specialty has powerful influences on his practice pattern. However, despite the fact that specialization has received the most attention for its influence on physician's service behavior, few studies have been conducted on the variations of contents and volume of physician's services. This study has intended to identify factors influencing the practice variations according to various physician characteristics. There are some other evidences that medical care providers are different in using of health services and resources in Korea. Four physician characteristics were selected for the analysis, two demographical factors, age and sex, and two practice factors, place of practice and medical specialty. Also, three indicators of service amount (total amount of insurance claim bill, number of visits per case, number of prescriptions per case) were selected. From the pool of insurance claims for ambulatory care received by the Korean National Federation of Medical Insurance(NFMI), 84,898 cases were randomly sampled. In the meantime using physician database of NFMI, 613 general practitioners (GP), 107 regular family physicians (FP), 483 'grandfather' family physicians(GFP), and 1,157 specialist practitioners(SP) were randomly sampled. Their different practice contents were compared concerning the specialty, age groups, sex, and practice sites (urban-rural) Specialist physicians tend to provide more costly care than do generalists. General practitioners and family physicians usually make fewer following visits and prescriptions. Age is also the important factor in determining the amount of services, which is highest at the physician's age group of 40's. Female doctors and urban practitioners use much more resources than their counterparts respectively. Research findings suggest that physician's characteristics particularly the specialty can affect practice patterns and resource utilizations. Other characteristics such as age and sex are not controllable but physician's specialty is relatively easily controllable during the entire phases of policy implementation. This is all the more true in the individual's initial decision of his specialty. Specialization therefore should receive policymaker's attention for its potential influence on medical care utilization and health care expenditure.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제17권1호
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• pp.37-45
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• 1984

의료보호사업의 의료이용 현황을 파악하고 그동안 시행과정에서 나타난 문제점을 발견하여 이에 대한 합리적인 개선책을 마련하는데 도움을 주고자 경산군의 전 의료보호대상자 17,527명이 1981년 10월 1일부터 1982년 9월말까지 1년동안에 진료증을 사용하여 진료를 받은 의료이용과 상병상태를 일차진료기관의 진료기록부와 매달 각 의료기관에서 군에 제출한 진료비청구서 및 내역서 기타 군과 읍, 면의 각종 행정통제자료에서 조사분석하였다. 경산군의 의료보호대상자는 전인구의 12.7%로서 전국의 9.5%보다 높았다. 대상자들의 의료이용율은 1차진료의 경우 대상자 100명당 월간 환자수는 9.3명, 방문회수는 14.0회, 투약일수는 42.9일이었다. 2,3차 진료의 경우는 연간 대상자 100명 당 입원이 1.7건, 외래이용이 9.3건이었다. 1종대상자가 2종대상자에 비해 1차진료 및 2,3차 진료 모두에서 의료이용이 월등히 높았다. 성별이용율은 1차진료는 여자가, 2,3차 진료는 남자가 많았다. 월별이용율은 7월이 가장 높고 1월이 가장 낮았다. 1월이 가장 낮은 것은 진료증의 갱신때문인 것으로 생각된다. 2,3차 진료기관의 연간 이용자수는 1,931명이고 이중 84.4%가 외래진료이었고 15.6%가 입원이었다. 전문과목별로는 정신과 환자가 66명중 55명이 입원으로 가장 높은 입원율을 나타내었으며, 이비인후과, 안과, 피부과, 비뇨기과 등은 연 입원환자가 $1{\sim}4$명으로 아주 낮은 입원율을 나타내었다. 2,3차 진료기관의 평균입원일수는 21.2일, 외래평균치료기관은 4.7일, 입원과 외래전체의 평균치료기간은 8.6일이었다. 정신과 환자의 평균 입원일수가 74.4일이나 되어 정신과를 제외할 경우 평균 입원일수는 9.3일이었다. 질환군으로 분류한 환자분포는 1차진료는 호흡기질환(35.4%)이 가장 많고, 2,3차 진료는 신경감각기질환(20.1%)이 가장 많았다. 연간 의료보호대상자 1인당 평균 진료비는 9,821원(1종: 24,240원, 2종: 7,464원)이고, 가구당 평균진료비는 40,531원(1종: 66,605원, 2종: 33,559원)이었다. 일차진료기관의 건당진료비는 3,901원, 일당진료비는 840원이고, 2,3차 진료기관의 건당진료비는 49,875원, 일당진료비는 5,822원이었다. 본 조사결과 다음과 같은 의료보호제도의 개선책을 제시하고자 한다. 첫째, 의료보호증의 연초에 일제갱신시 재발급절차를 신속히 할 수 있는 방안이 마련되었으면 한다. 둘째, 전문과목별로 1차지정의료기관을 지정함으로(관내에 전문의료기관이 없을 경우 인근 진료권에 지정) 2,3차 진료기관으로 이송되는 환자를 줄여서 예산의 절감과 이용자의 불편을 덜어주어야 한다고 생각된다. 셋째, 1차지정의료기관과 2,3차 지정의료기관의 진료비 산출방법이 좀더 합리적으로 개선되어야 한다고 생각된다.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제23권4호
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• pp.416-427
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• 1990

Unfortunately, we have poor knowledge of medical technology in North Korea. This study has thus attempted to identify the level and status of medical technology development through analyzing the contents of medical textbooks currently in use. This study has assumed that three factors are influencing the level and status of medical technology in a society ; the level of socio-economic development in general, the level of scientific technology revolution and health policy. Forty textbooks are collected for this purpose. The main findings are summarized as follows : 1) North Korea s strengths in that (1) its herb drugs, which are in a broad use, are cheaper, more safe and more attainable than bio-equivalent chemical ones, and (2) the development of its medical technology was carried out with emphasis on the practical and basic health needs. 2) North Korea has weaknesses in that (1) its medical diagnostic method largely depends on manual procedures, (2) the R & D investment in the development of chemical drugs, especially antibiotics, is very small, (3) the amount of medical equipments is in a absolute shortage, and (4) the medical technology is destitute of specialty, caused mainly by the overemphasis on Juche-Uihak or herb medicine. 3) Medical technology has two faces, positive and negative so that it cannot be successfully evaluated by one. It eventually acts a positive function for public health through developments of drug, equipment and new medical treatment method. But it is also true that it has negative effects such as the dehumanization of high cost medical technology, cost hike due to over-investments in expensive equipment and the absence of wholistic care from overspecialization. 4) We have to consider economic status and the social needs of medical care in order to evaluate the medical technology of a society. It is also the case with North Korea. A whole picture of the North Korean medical technology could be understood only if further comprehensive studies of medical technology are to be carried out for North Korea.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제44권3호
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• pp.101-110
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• 2011

Objectives: Screening for colorectal cancer is considered cost effective, but is underutilized in the U.S. Information on the efficiency of "tailored interventions" to promote colorectal cancer screening in primary care settings is limited. The paper reports the results of a cost effectiveness analysis that compared a survey-only control group to a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) web-based intervention (screen for life) and to a tailored interactive computer-based intervention. Methods: A randomized controlled trial of people 50 and over, was conducted to test the interventions. The sample was 1224 partcipants 50-70 years of age, recruited from Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, a large multi-specialty clinic in Houston, Texas. Screening status was obtained by medical chart review after a 12-month follow-up period. An "intention to treat" analysis and micro costing from the patient and provider perspectives were used to estimate the costs and effects. Analysis of statistical uncertainty was conducted using nonparametric bootstrapping. Results: The estimated cost of implementing the web-based intervention was $40 per person and the cost of the tailored intervention was $45 per person. The additional cost per person screened for the web-based intervention compared to no intervention was $2602 and the tailored intervention was no more effective than the web-based strategy. Conclusions: The tailored intervention was less cost-effective than the web-based intervention for colorectal cancer screening promotion. The web-based intervention was less cost-effective than previous studies of in-reach colorectal cancer screening promotion. Researchers need to continue developing and evaluating the effectiveness and costeffectiveness of interventions to increase colorectal cancer screening.

• 의료법학
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• 제11권2호
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• pp.181-208
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• 2010

Maternity services is often perceived as a troublesome business and obstetric litigation is on the increase in Western countries. Overall, the number of claim and cost of litigation to the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA) from maternity services in the UK is increasing every year. Maternity services account for 60-70% of the total sum paid. This has widespread implications for both the individual practitioners and the institutions where they work, due to increasing malpractice insurance premiums. Fear of litigation is also attracting fewer medical graduates into the specialty, leading to a recruitment crisis in obstetrics and gynaecology. The litigation process can cause pain, suffering and distress to clinicians as well as to the patients and their families. Litigation in maternity services is the result of a complex of events when malpractice (presumed or real) impacts on the attitude of pregnant women and their environment. In such complexity, information is mandatory but may often be misinterpreted. If messages are not tailored to the receiver's capacity, communicating well with the pregnant patient becomes crucial. Therefore, to reduce medicallegal issues in obstetrics, increasing attention and an applicable standard of obstetric care to avoid negligence and medical errors should go along with other measures. Considering UK's experiences, NHS redress scheme make it easier to pursue small claims and birth related claims, without necessarily reducing the number of claims processed through the conventional legal system and perhaps encouraging even more of them. The task of dealing with the greater number of inquiries into their practice would inevitably create an added burden for clinicians and hospital managers. Thus further proposals are required to limit the cost of processing inflated claims and to consider whether clinicians should be given some protection from litigation alleging a failure to prevent birth related impairment.

• 대한간호
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• 제29권2호
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• pp.48-65
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• 1990

The government has adopted a policy to introduce Home Health Care Program, and has established a three stage plan to implement it. The three stage plan is : First, to amend Article 54 (Nurses for Different Types of Services) of the Regulations for Implementing the Law of Medical Services; Second, to tryout the new system through pilot projects established in public hospitals and clinics; and third, to implement at all hospitals and equivalent medical institutions. In accordance with the plan, the Regulation has been amend and it was promulgated on January 9,1990, thus establishing a legal ground for implementing the policy. Subsequently, however, the Medical Association raised its objection to the policy, causing a delay in moving into the second stage of the plan. Under these circumstances, a study was conducted by collecting and evaluating the opinions of physicians, nurses, non-medical personnel and patients on the need and expected result from the home health care for the purpose of help facilitating the implementation of the new system. As a result of this study, it was revealed that: 1. Except the physicians, absolute majority of all other three groups - nurses, non-medical personnel and patients -gave positive answers to all 11 items related to the need for establishing a program for Home Health Care. Among the physicians, the opinions on the need for the new services were different depending on their field of specialty, and those who have been treating long term patients were more positive in supporting the new system. 2. The respondents in all four groups held very positive view for the effectiveness and the expected result of the program. The composite total of scores for all of 17 items, however, re-veals that the physicians were least positive for the- effectiveness of the new system. The people in all four groups held high expectation on the system on the ground that: it will help continued medical care after the discharge from hospitals; that it will alleviate physical and economic burden of patient's family; that it will offer nursing services at home for the patients who are suffering from chronic disease, for those early discharge from hospital, or those who are without family members to look after the patients at home. 3. Opinions were different between patients( who will receive services) and nurses (who will provide services) on the types of services home visiting nurses should offer. The patients wanted "education on how to take care patients at home", "making arrangement to be admitted into hospital when need arises", "IV injection", "checking blood pressure", and "administering medications." On the other hand, nurses believed that they can offer all 16 types of services except "Controlling pain of patients", 4. For the question of "what types of patients are suitable for Home Health Care Program; " the physicians, the nurses and non-medical personnel all gave high score on the cases of "patients of chronic disease", "patients of old age", "terminal cases", and the "patients who require long-term stay in hospital". 5. On the question of who should control Home Health Care Program, only physicians proposed that it should be done through hospitals, while remaining three groups recommended that it should be done through public institutions such as public health center. 6. On the question of home health care fee, the respondents in all four groups believed that the most desireable way is to charge a fixed amount of visiting fee plus treatment service fee and cost of material. 7. In the case when the Home Health Care Program is to be operated through hospitals, it is recommended that a new section be created in the out-patient department for an exclusive handling of the services, instead of assigning it to an existing section. 8. For the qualification of the nurses for-home visiting, the majority of respondents recommended that they should be "registered nurses who have had clinical experiences and who have attended training courses for home health care". 9. On the question of if the program should be implemented; 74.0% of physicians, 87.5% of non-medical personnel, and 93.0% of nurses surveyed expressed positive support. 10. Among the respondents, 74.5% of -physicians, 81.3% of non-medical personnel and 90.9% of nurses said that they would refer patients' to home health care. 11. To the question addressed to patients if they would take advantage of home health care; 82.7% said they would if the fee is applicable to the Health Insurance, and 86.9% said they would follow advises of physicians in case they were decided for early discharge from hospitals. 12. While 93.5% of nurses surveyed had heard about the Home Health Care Program, only 38.6% of physicians surveyed, 50.9% of non-medical personnel, and 35.7% of patients surveyed had heard about the program. In view of above findings, the following measures are deemed prerequisite for an effective implementation of Home Health Care Program. 1. The fee for home health care to be included in the public health insurance. 2. Clearly define the types and scope of services to be offered in the Home Health Care Program. 3. Develop special programs for training nurses who will be assigned to the Home Health Care Program. 4. Train those nurses by consigning them at hospitals and educational institutions. 5. Government conducts publicity campaign toward the public and the hospitals so that the hospitals support the program and patients take advantage of them. 6. Systematic and effective publicity and educational programs for home heath care must be developed and exercises for the people of medical professions in hospitals as well as patients and their families. 7. Establish and operate pilot projects for home health care, to evaluate and refine their programs.

• 한국병원경영학회지
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• 제6권1호
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• pp.120-146
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• 2001

This study was carried out to provide the essential information in improving the graduate medical education in Korea. For the study, a survey targeting the directors of GME of nationwide teaching hospitals was performed with a questionnaire asking the questions such as the director's perception on the quality of GME, trainees' salary level, trainees' specialty selection tendency, training system and its duration. The collected data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, and $x^2$-test. The results were as follows: 1. The survey were executed on 240 teaching hospitals in Korea and the response rate was 66.2% (159 hospitals replied). 2. The bigger a hospitals is the better in Quality of education. Larger hospitals tend to have better status in all items including medical specialists' experience, contents of medical curriculum, general environment for medical education and medical trainees's salary level. The result supported the general perception on the positive relationship between hospital size and Quality of GMA. 3. Providing convenience for medical trainees who prepares for the medical specialist Qualifying examination didn't affect the results of the examination. 4. The directions of GME have a perception that the trainees give positive impact on financial performance of their hospitals. This seems to be one of the reasons that hospitals try to retain as many trainees as possible. 5. The directors of GME considered medical trainees as an educate, and most of them responded positively on the need of governmental supports for the education cost and the trainee's salary. Considering above results, it seems that GME would get more social attention and the trainees' impact on hospitals operation would be increased more than before. In response to these trends, hospitals would find out the ways to lower dependency on trainees, and this change of attitude of hospitals on the GME would cause problems in operation of hospitals and GME itself. In order to prevent these problems the policy on GME should be directed in following ways. 1. The contents of Qualifying examination for specialist should be improved. 2. The curriculum of GME should be strictly followed. 3. The status of trainee in a hospital has to be defined as eductee. 4. Government has to support a half of the education cost and salary of trainee. 5. The distribution of the trainee among the hospital group have to be based on total available. 6. The financial support and welfare of trainee should be improved gradually and systematically.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• 제34권1호
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• pp.63-79
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• 2009

본 연구는 건강보험심사평가원(Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, 이하 심평원)에서 전산화되어 관리되는 보험대상 환자들의 진료기록을 이용하여 턱관절장애(temporomandibular disorders, TMD)로 인해 병원을 찾고 있는 환자의 유병률과 진료양태를 파악하고자 하였다. 연구를 위하여 심평원 전산시스템에 등록된 국내 보험대상 환자 중 2003년, 2004년, 2005년의 3년에 걸친 환자 자료를 사용하여 턱관절장애 (K07.6)를 주상병으로 하여 진단과 치료를 받은 환자에 대하여 성별 및 연령별 진료인원, 지역별 진료인원, 요양기관종별 진료인원, 치료기간 및 진료건수, 진료과목별 진료건수와 평균치료기간, 진료과목별 1인당 소요비용, 원외처방 치료약제 약효분류코드(효능군)별 연간 투약일수, 외과적 수술 실시 횟수 등을 분석조사한 연구결과는 다음과 같다. TMD로 인해 병원을 찾는 평균 환자수는 전체인구의 0.15%이었으며, 3년간 매년 증가하는 추세를 보였다. 그 중 99.8%가 여자였고, 20대의 유병률이 가장 높고 연령이 증가하면서 감소하는 양상을 보였다. 3년간의 변화추이를 볼 때 20대의 유병률은 감소하고 40대 이후 증가하는 양상을 보였다는 점이 특징적이었다. 16개 시도별 분포에서는 인구가 많은 서울, 경기 지역의 환자수가 많았고, 매년 전체 환자수가 증가하면서 각 지역별로 유사한 비율로 증가하였다. 그러나 부산과 대구에서는 감소세가 뚜렷하였고 울산, 경기, 전남의 증가세가 관찰되었다. 의료기관별로 내원한 환자 수는 치과를 포함한 일차의료기관에 내원하여 진료한 경우가 평균 56.8%로 전체의 과반수를 차지하였고 TMD와 관련한 입원건수는 치과 입원(86.6%)이 의과전체(13.4%) 보다 훨씬 많았다. 외래내원건수에서는 치과가 전체 건수의 38.4%로서 가장 많았으며, 정형외과(28%), 이비인후과(13.6%)의 순서였다. 약물치료에서는 해열소염진통제가 가장 빈번하게 투여되었고 정신신경용제, 골격근이완제의 순서였다. 심평원의 자료는 TMD때문에 병원을 찾는 환자들의 역학적 특성과 진료양태에 대한 포괄적이고 광범위한 정보를 제공하고 있지만, 진료실에서 정확한 진단과 표준화된 치료가 이루어지고 있는지에 대한 평가가 함께 이루어질 때 더욱 신뢰할 수 있는 정보가 될 것으로 생각된다.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.129-155
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• 2008

급성상기도감염증에 대한 항생제 처방률은 의료기관의 유형, 표시과목, 의료기관이 위치한 지역 등 여러 요인에 따라 차이를 보인다. 본 연구는 1차 의료기관인 의원들 중 내과, 소아과, 이비인후과 의원의 급성상기도감염증에 대한 항생제 처방률에 환자의 특성과 같은 의학적 요인이 아닌 의원의 수입과 밀접한 관계가 있는 의원 수의 변화(경쟁 정도의 변화)와 같은 경제적 요인이 미치는 영향을 실증 분석하였다. 2006년 건강보험심사평가원에서 발표한 전국 각 의료기관의 급성상기도감염증에 대한 항생제 처방률을 주 자료원으로 하여, 경쟁지수를 두 가지 형태로 정의하고 수요 측면을 나타내는 변수와 공급 측면을 나타내는 변수를 통제변수로 선정하여 회귀분석을 실시한 결과 경쟁지수를 어떤 형태로 정의하든, 의원이 위치한 지역의 경쟁정도는 의사들의 항생제 처방률에 통계적으로 유의한 영향을 미친 것으로 분석되었다. 이러한 결과는 시장지역 내 경쟁 정도의 변화와 같은 경제적 요인이 의사들의 처방행태에 영향을 미치는 요인 중 하나라고 해석할 수 있다. 아울러 인과관계의 방향과 관련하여, 의사가 진료하는 지역의 경쟁 정도가 높아질수록 항생제 처방률이 통계적으로 유의하게 높아지는 것으로 나타났다. 이러한 결과는 의사의 진료수입 감소를 초래할 것으로 예상되는 시장환경의 변화에 대해 자신의 진료수입을 예전상태로 보전하기 위해 불필요한 의료서비스 소비를 유도해서 얻는 편익(소득효과)이 이를 위해 자신이 지불해야 할 비용(대체효과)보다 크기 때문에 항생제 처방률을 증가시킨 것으로 해석할 수 있으며, 또한 경제적 유인체계의 변화에 대하여 의사의 진료행태가 영향을 받을 수 있음을 실증적으로 뒷받침하는 것으로 이해할 수 있을 것이다.