Primary Care Patients’ Preference for Hospitals over Clinics in Korea

Korea is in a unique condition to observe whether patients, when equal access to the levels of health care facilities is guaranteed by the support of the national health insurance, choose the appropriate levels of health care facilities. This study was performed to investigate the primary care patie...

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Main Authors: Agnus M. Kim, Seongcheol Cho, Hyun Joo Kim, Hyemin Jung, Min-Woo Jo, Jin Yong Lee, Sang Jun Eun
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2018-05-01
Series:International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/6/1119
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spelling doaj-d71cf00244d643f6947e2eaee0c79b7a2020-11-24T23:44:03ZengMDPI AGInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health1660-46012018-05-01156111910.3390/ijerph15061119ijerph15061119Primary Care Patients’ Preference for Hospitals over Clinics in KoreaAgnus M. Kim0Seongcheol Cho1Hyun Joo Kim2Hyemin Jung3Min-Woo Jo4Jin Yong Lee5Sang Jun Eun6Department of Health Policy and Management, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul 03080, KoreaRegional Emergency Care Center, Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul 03080, KoreaDepartment of Nursing Science, Shinsung University, Dangjin 31801, KoreaDepartment of Health Policy and Management, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul 03080, KoreaDepartment of Preventive Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul 05505, KoreaPublic Health Medical Service, Boramae Medical Center, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 20 Boramae-ro 5-gil, Dongjak-gu, Seoul 07061, KoreaDepartment of Preventive Medicine, Chungnam National University College of Medicine, Daejeon 35015, KoreaKorea is in a unique condition to observe whether patients, when equal access to the levels of health care facilities is guaranteed by the support of the national health insurance, choose the appropriate levels of health care facilities. This study was performed to investigate the primary care patients’ preference for hospitals over clinics under no restriction for their choice. We used the 2011 National Inpatient Sample database of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service in Korea. A primary care patient was defined as a patient who visited as an outpatient in health care facilities with one of the 52 minor conditions defined by the Korean government. We found that approximately 15% of outpatient visits of the patients who were eligible for primary care in Korea happened in hospitals. In terms of cost, the outpatient visits in hospitals accounted for about 29% of total cost of outpatient visits. This arbitrary access to hospitals can lead to an inefficient use of health care resources. In order to ensure that health care facilities are stratified in terms of access as well as size and function, interventions to distribute patients to the appropriate level of care are required.http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/6/1119primary carehealth care facilitiesaccesspreferencehospitalsclinicsKorea
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Agnus M. Kim
Seongcheol Cho
Hyun Joo Kim
Hyemin Jung
Min-Woo Jo
Jin Yong Lee
Sang Jun Eun
spellingShingle Agnus M. Kim
Seongcheol Cho
Hyun Joo Kim
Hyemin Jung
Min-Woo Jo
Jin Yong Lee
Sang Jun Eun
Primary Care Patients’ Preference for Hospitals over Clinics in Korea
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
primary care
health care facilities
access
preference
hospitals
clinics
Korea
author_facet Agnus M. Kim
Seongcheol Cho
Hyun Joo Kim
Hyemin Jung
Min-Woo Jo
Jin Yong Lee
Sang Jun Eun
author_sort Agnus M. Kim
title Primary Care Patients’ Preference for Hospitals over Clinics in Korea
title_short Primary Care Patients’ Preference for Hospitals over Clinics in Korea
title_full Primary Care Patients’ Preference for Hospitals over Clinics in Korea
title_fullStr Primary Care Patients’ Preference for Hospitals over Clinics in Korea
title_full_unstemmed Primary Care Patients’ Preference for Hospitals over Clinics in Korea
title_sort primary care patients’ preference for hospitals over clinics in korea
publisher MDPI AG
series International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
issn 1660-4601
publishDate 2018-05-01
description Korea is in a unique condition to observe whether patients, when equal access to the levels of health care facilities is guaranteed by the support of the national health insurance, choose the appropriate levels of health care facilities. This study was performed to investigate the primary care patients’ preference for hospitals over clinics under no restriction for their choice. We used the 2011 National Inpatient Sample database of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service in Korea. A primary care patient was defined as a patient who visited as an outpatient in health care facilities with one of the 52 minor conditions defined by the Korean government. We found that approximately 15% of outpatient visits of the patients who were eligible for primary care in Korea happened in hospitals. In terms of cost, the outpatient visits in hospitals accounted for about 29% of total cost of outpatient visits. This arbitrary access to hospitals can lead to an inefficient use of health care resources. In order to ensure that health care facilities are stratified in terms of access as well as size and function, interventions to distribute patients to the appropriate level of care are required.
topic primary care
health care facilities
access
preference
hospitals
clinics
Korea
url http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/6/1119
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