Health Policy and Management (보건행정학회지)

Korean Academy of Health Policy and Management (한국보건행정학회)
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Hospital Admission Rates for Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions in South Korea: Could It Be Used as an Indicator for Measuring Efficiency of Healthcare Utilization?

한국의 의료기관 외래진료 민감질환 입원율: 의료이용 효율성 지표로의 활용 가능성?

  • Jeong, Keon-Jak (Department of Preventive Medicine, The Catholic University College of Medicine) ;
  • Kim, Jinkyung (Department of Hospital Management, Konyang University College of Medical Sciences) ;
  • Kang, Hye-Young (College of Pharmacy, Yonsei Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Yonsei University) ;
  • Shin, Euichul (Department of Preventive Medicine, The Catholic University College of Medicine)
  • 정건작 (가톨릭대학교 의과대학 예방의학교실) ;
  • 김진경 (건양대학교 병원경영학과) ;
  • 강혜영 (연세대학교 약학대학) ;
  • 신의철 (가톨릭대학교 의과대학 예방의학교실)
  • Received : 2015.04.25
  • Accepted : 2016.03.17
  • Published : 2016.03.31
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Abstract

Background: Hospital admissions for ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs), which are widely used as an indicator of poor access to primary care, can be used as an efficiency indicator of healthcare use in countries providing good access to health care. Korea, which has a national health insurance (NHI) system and a good supply of health care resources, is one such country. To quantify admission rates of ACSC and identify characteristics influencing variation in Korean health care institutions. Methods: By using NHI claims data, we computed the mean ACSC admission rate for all institutions with ACSC admissions. Results: The average ACSC admission rate for 4,461 institutions was 1.45%. Hospitals and clinics with inpatient beds showed larger variations in the ACSC admission rate (0%-87.9% and 0%-99.6%, respectively) and a higher coefficient of variation (7.96 and 2.29) than general/tertiary care hospitals (0%-19.1%, 0.85). The regression analysis results indicate that the ACSC admission rate was significantly higher for hospitals than for clinics (${\beta}=0.986$, p<0.05), and for private corporate institutions than public institutions (${\beta}=0.271$, p<0.05). Conclusion: Substantial variations in ACSC admission rates could suggest the potential problem of inefficient use of healthcare resources. Since hospitals and private corporate institutions tend to increase ACSC admission rates, future health policy should focus on these types of institutions.

Keywords

References

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