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J Korean Med Assoc > Volume 55(10); 2012 > Article
Park and Jang: The diagnosis of healthcare policy problems in Korea

Abstract

The definition of a policy problem is important in all stages of the policy processes, and especially in presidential election seasons, which usually open the political window. We propose priorities among the policy problems of Korean healthcare by the positioning approach, which compares Korea with Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries using OECD health data. The range of positioning is 1 to -1 where 1 is the best or highest level among OECD countries, 0 is the average level, and -1 is the worst or lowest level. The positioning results show that the overall health status of Korea is good (positioning=0.34), but the suicide rate (-1.00) is a major problem. Healthcare human resources are scarce (-0.46), but rapidly increasing. Hospital beds and medical equipments are over-supplied (respectively 0.37, 0.33), but medical equipments that are utilized mainly in tertiary hospitals are below average. The utilization of healthcare is at the top level in doctors' consultations (0.97) and average length of stay (0.65). The quality of in-patient care is good (0.35), but quality of out-patient care is poor (-0.36). Healthcare costs are low (-0.73), but their growth rate is high. Among healthcare costs, the policy problems are large pharmaceutical expenditures and many households with catastrophic expenditures. This study determined the priorities of healthcare policy problems in Korea. The next step is to search for the factors that influence these policy problems and develop their solutions.

References

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Figure 1
Framework for healthcare policy.
jkma-55-932-g001-l.jpg
Table 1
Positioning of Korea in health status and determinants, 2009
jkma-55-932-i001-l.jpg

OECD, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; PYLL, potential years of life lost.

a)Mean of life expectancy, mortality and infant mortality.

b)Mean of alcohol comsumption, smoking, and overweight.

Table 2
Positioning of Korea in healthcare supply, 2009
jkma-55-932-i002-l.jpg

OECD, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; pop, population; PET, positron emission tomography.

a)Mean of practicing physicians, dentists, nurses, and pharmacists.

b)Total hospital beds.

c)Mean of 8 equipments.

Table 3
Positioning of Korea in healthcare access, 2009
jkma-55-932-i003-l.jpg

OECD, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; DTP, diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis; pop, population.

a)Average of 4 immunization.

b)Average of 2 screening.

c)Average of doctors consultation and discharge rates.

Table 4
Positioning of Korea in healthcare quality, 2009
jkma-55-932-i004-l.jpg

OECD, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; AMI, acute myocardial infarction; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; CHF, congestive heart failure.

a)Mean of 3 in-hopital mortality rate and 3 survival rate.

b)Mean of 4 admission rate.

Table 5
Positioning of Korea in healthcare costs, 2009
jkma-55-932-i005-l.jpg

OECD, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; PPP, purchasing power parity; GDP, gross domestic product.

a)Mean of total expenditure and % of total expenditure of GDP.



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