Strategies for improvement of primary care in Korea

Heui Sug Jo

doi:10.5124/jkma.2012.55.10.959

J Korean Med Assoc > Volume 55(10); 2012 > Article

Jo: Strategies for improvement of primary care in Korea

Focused Issue of This Month

The Current Status and Directions of Healthcare Policy in Korea

Journal of the Korean Medical Association

Journal of the Korean Medical Association 2012; 55(10): 959-968.

Published online: October 17, 2012

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2012.55.10.959

Strategies for improvement of primary care in Korea

Heui Sug Jo, MD

Department of Health Management & Policy, Kangwon National University School of Medicine, Chuncheon, Korea.

Corresponding author: Heui Sug Jo, joheuisug@gmail.com

Received September 20, 2012 Accepted September 30, 2012

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Primary care is essential among the strategies for expansion of healthy life expectancy and quality of life. The purpose of this study was to suggest strategies for improvement of primary care in Korea, in light of the current Korean condition. Data and reports related to primary care and medical were collected and analyzed, applying the structure-process-outcome frame, taking into consideration current medical care delivery system. Current primary care system is considered inappropriate and inefficient from many perspectives. In particular, continuous and comprehensive management of chronic disease is needed. To effectively carry out the function of primary care, an incentive system for patients' and physicians' motivation is needed. Also, support for improvement of the capability to manage patients and monitor health outcomes has to be considered. It is hoped that the government will develop a long-term vision and make ongoing investments.

Primary health care; Motivation; Delivery system

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Figure 1

Out-patient medical utilization among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (per capita, per year, 2010) (From Research Institute for Healthcare Policy. Analysis of the OECD health data 2011. Seoul: Research Institute for Healthcare Policy; 2011) [12].

Table 1

The number of beds for acute care (2005 and 2010)

Values are presented as no. of beds/1,000 population.

From Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. OECD reviews of health care quality: Korea 2012 [Internet]. Paris: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; 2012 [10].

Table 2

The composition of outpatient: utilization within their community

Values are presented as %.

From Oh YH. National health utilization survey: the result of analysis from medical utilization. Seoul: Ministry of Health and Welfare; 2011 [13].