• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.31-49
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to propose an effective leadership in the hospital management by analyzing the relationship of the effect of the specialty hospital CEO's leadership on the employees' organizational effectiveness as well as the customer orientation, and the mediation effects of the organizational effectiveness on the relation between hospital CEO's leadership and the customer orientation. The questionnaires of the survey targeting the 99 specialty hospitals were collected that 786 copies of them were utilized in analysis. The major outcomes of the research can be summarized as follows. Firstly, transformational leadership of specialty hospital CEO generally has the greater impact on the employees' job satisfaction, organizational commitment and turnover intention than his transactional leadership. Secondly, the most important sub-variable of specialty hospital CEO leadership affecting the organizational effectiveness of the employees are charisma of transformational leadership and contingent reward of transactional leadership. Thirdly, the sub-variable of specialty hospital CEO leadership which has the greatest impact on customer orientation of employees is the active management-by-exception of transactional leadership. Fourthly, the sub-variables in the organizational effectiveness such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment and the turnover intention of hospital employees play mostly the partial mediation role between the customer orientation of employees and the leadership of a specialty hospital CEO. This means that the more the organizational effectiveness of specialty hospital employees improves, the more the customer orientation does. Thus, specialty hospital CEOs need to pay attention to the sub-variables in organizational effectiveness so as to improve the customer orientation of the employees. To explore further the nature of the effect of hospital leadership in the future, apart form the variables of the organization effectiveness used in this study to improve the customer orientation of employees through the leadership of the specialty hospital CEO, the research to identify other factors which have greater influence and explanatory power will be needed.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.14-23
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• 2023

Purposes: The Specialty hospital designation policy had launched in 2011 and 110 designated specialty hospitals have been operating nationwide in 2022. This study was to estimate the market share of specialty hospitals for the specific diseases compared to other types of hospitals. Methodology: Data were derived from the National Health Insurance Claim data from 2018 to 2019. Subjects were all the inpatients with MDC(Major Disease Category) that specialty hospitals specialized in. A total of 34,231,387 claims were analyzed to estimate the market share. Findings: 90 specialty hospitals were responsible for 2.4 percent of inpatient care with specific diseases for specialty hospitals. There were regional variations in the market share of the specialty hospitals as the number of specialty hospitals in regions. Specialty hospitals' market shares were relatively high in burn(31.3%), ophthalmology(16.4%), obstetrics and gynecology(7.1%), alcohol(6.0%), joint(3.7%), spine(2.7%). After adjusting the number of inpatients per hospital, hospitals specialized in burn, alcohol, ophthalmology, breast, joint, obstetrics and gynecology, and hand replantation had treated more patients than tertiary hospitals. Practical Implications: Although specialty hospitals' market share was small, some types of specialty hospitals had an impact on the regional market as well as the national level market. To improve patients' accessibility to a specialty hospital, it is necessary to government supports non-specialized hospitals to change into specialty hospitals in certain fields and regions where the number of specialty hospitals is insufficient.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.13-26
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• 2016

Objectives : The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is a difference in the factors affecting the financial performance and profitability before and after the specialty hospital designation and thereby identifying the differentiated significance of the financial performance of specialty hospitals. Methods : Based on the year 2011, the analysis period was divided into the pre-specialty hospital designation (2007-2010) and post-specialty hospital designation (2011-2014), and the data were pooled according to the respective analysis period and analyzed by descriptive statistics and regression analysis. Results : The difference in the financial factors that affected the financial performance and profitability before and after the specialty hospital designation was discovered, and a financial performance factor different from prior studies was found. Conclusions : This study identified improved outcomes in financial performance due to the specialty hospital designation and the factors that affect profitability in terms of the finance of specialty hospitals.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.1-14
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• 2018

Purpose : Customers with loyalty are very important to hospitals for sustainable growth in their medical market. Individuals with loyalty are likely to visit same hospital repeatedly when they need medical services. This study was to identify factors associated with selection of specialty hospitals among customers with loyalty. Methods : The subjects of this study were 735 inpatients in 22 specialty hospitals in 6 designated fields(joints, spine, colorectal-anal, obstetrics and gynecology, ophthalmology, otolaryngology). Customer types classified as customers with high loyalty, neutral customers, and customers with low loyalty according to net promoter score(NPS). Factor analysis was conducted to classify 22 hospital selection factors into some similar properties. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to confirm the selection factors related to loyal customers. Findings : Most of specialty hospitals received high NPS of 8 points or higher in all the designated fields. Five factors associated with selection of specialty hospital are (1) hospital facilities and convenience, (2) trust in doctor and hospital, (3) rapidness of treatment, (4) hospital awareness, and (5) accessibility. As a result of logistic regression analysis, selection factors related to loyal customers were 'hospital facilities and convenience', 'trust in doctor and hospital' and 'rapidness of treatment'. Differences in the degree of importance of three selection factors by customer types appeared for each designated field. Practical Implications : This study confirms the high level of patient experience among inpatients of specialty hospitals. Factors associated with selection of hospital among inpatients with loyalty are 'facilities and convenience of hospitals', 'trust of doctor and hospital' and 'rapidness of treatment'. This study will be meaningful as basic data to systematically enhance the roles and functions of the health care system and to provide securing competitiveness according to designated fields in the management aspect of specialty hospitals.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.78-86
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• 2024

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the specialty hospital system by comparing the medical use of inpatients who had artificial joint replacement surgery in specialty hospitals and non-specialty hospitals. Methods: This study utilized 2021-2022 healthcare benefit claims data provided by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. The dependent variable is inpatient medical use which is measured in terms of charges per case and length of stay. The independent variable was whether the hospital was designated as a specialty hospital, and the control variables were patient-level variables (age, gender, insurer type, surgery type, and Charlson comorbidity index) and medical institution-level variables (establishment type, classification, location, number of orthopedic surgeons, and number of nurses). Results: The results of the multiple regression analysis between charges per case and whether a hospital is designated as a specialty hospital showed a statistically significant negative relationship between charges per case and whether a hospital is designated as a specialty hospital. This suggests a significant low in charges per case when a hospital is designated as a specialty hospital compared to a non-specialty hospital, indicating that there is a difference in medical use outcomes between specialty hospitals and non-specialty hospitals inpatients. Conclusion: The practical implications of this study are as follows. First, the criteria for designating specialty hospitals should be alleviated. In our study, the results show that specialty hospitals have significantly lower per-case costs than non-specialty hospitals. Despite the cost-effectiveness of specialty hospitals, the high barriers to be designated for specialty hospitals have gathered the specialty hospitals in metropolitan and major cities. To address the regional imbalance of specialty hospitals, it is believed that ease the criteria for designating specialty hospitals in non-metropolitan areas, such as introducing "semi-specialty hospitals (tentative name)," will lead to a reduction in health disparities between regions and reduce medical costs. Second, it is necessary to determine the appropriateness of the size of hospitals' medical staff. The study found that the number of orthopedic surgeons and nurses varied in charges per case. Therefore, it is believed that appropriately allocating hospital medical staff can maximize the cost-effectiveness of medical services and ultimately reduce medical costs.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.390-392
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• 2018

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.31-53
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• 2006

The objective of this study is to examine the effectiveness of the strategy of hospital specialization by analyzing the differences in expected and perceived services, perceived service quality, satisfaction, and intentions to revisit and recommend the hospital to others between general and specialty hospitals. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaire from patients admitted to four study hospitals: two speciality and two general hospitals. The questionnaire was developed based on SERVQUAL to measure five dimensions of service quality. Four hundreds questionnaires were distributed to inpatients or their guardians and 282 returned questionnaires were used in the analyses. The significance of the differences in study variables between specialty and general hospitals were tested by t-test and $x^2$-test. The factor analysis result confirmed the construct validity of 28 questions asked to measure service quality and resulted in four dimensions of service quality: reliability, assurance, tangible and empathy/responsiveness. Cronbach's Alpha ranged from .9013 to .9358, that confirmed the internal consistency of answers. The study results indicated that patients who used specialty hospitals had higher levels of expected and perceived service, a higher level of perceived service quality, and higher levels of service satisfaction than patients who used general hospitals. Percents of patients who had the intention to revisit the hospital and to recommend the hospital to others were higher among patients in specialty hospitals. The most frequent reason to choose the hospital was the excellence of doctors in both general(29.9%) and specialty(43.8%) hospitals, that was followed by convenient transportation(15.3%) and someone know works at the hospital(15.3%) in general hospitals and other's recommendation(14.6%), and nice amenities(13.1%) in specialty hospitals. Although there were no significant differences in clinical department, age, and sex of patients between general and specialty hospitals, patients who visited speciality hospitals had higher levels of education and income than their counter part in general hospitals. These results suggested that specialty hospitals performed better than general hospitals. Specialization could be a viable strategy to tide over recent financial difficulties experienced by hospitals, particularly small- and medium-sized hospitals.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.21-31
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• 2023

Purposes: Patient experience is a tool to evaluate the process and results of medical services provided by medical institutions from the patient's point of view. Patient satisfaction surveys are a meaningful and essential source of information for improving quality in healthcare organizations. This study aims to provide basic data for improving the quality of medical service that patients can feel by analyzing the recommendation intention and satisfaction of inpatients in specialty hospitals. Methodology: The subjects of this study were 879 inpatients in 28 specialty hospitals in 14 designated fields. We conducted a telephone survey with a structured questionnaire on the satisfaction and recommendation intention for specialty hospitals. Findings: In inpatients, hospital satisfaction was higher in nursing care services and hospital satisfaction was low in physicians care services. The overall patient satisfaction score was 91.4(SD=11.9) out of 100, and the intention of recommendation was 92.0(SD=14.1) out of 100. The factors affecting patient experience were designated fields, sex, age, residential area, monthly household income, and perceived health status. Practical Implications: This study confirmed the high level of patient satisfaction and recommendation intention among inpatients of specialty hospitals. Patient satisfaction can be of great value to healthcare providers in recognizing and improving the quality of care, as well as predicting patients' willingness to revisit medical institutions. This study can be used to improve the quality of hospital care services in specialty hospitals rather than general and tertiary general hospitals.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.103-141
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• 2017

The (Korean) Medical Services Act revised in 2009 introduces the accreditation of specialty hospital. When a hospital meets prescribed standards, passes a board review, and is accredited as a specialty hospital by the Minister of Health and Welfare, then it may use 'specialty hospital' in its name and certification mark of specialty hospital. The problem is that the (Korean) Fair Trade Commission and the (Korean) Ministry of Health and Welfare, both of which have authorities to regulate advertising in general and in health care service in turn, announced the guidelines to prohibit internet (portal) service providers to provide keyword search ads service using key-words such as 'specialty' or 'specialized in' for those who are not accredited by the Minister of Health and Welfare. In this article, whether these guidelines can be justified by the current regime and whether the current specialty hospital policy is agreeable would be examined. To do this, the legal nature of accreditation of specialty hospital, the limit of advertisement regulation, the law of keyword search ads, and the liability of internet service providers also would be analyzed.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.177-186
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• 2013

Objectives This study is to evaluate the current situation of Russian tourists for medical tourism of Spine Specialty Korean Medicine Hospital. Methods 133 Russian tourists visiting Spine Specialty Korean Medicine Hospital from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012, were analysed in the statistics. Their data was sourced from the computerized medical records. And 87 of them answer a questionnaire about reasons for selection of Spine Specialty Korean Medicine Hospital and satisfactory for medical service. Results A total of 133 Russian visited Spine Specialty Korean Medicine Hospital for medical service, consisting of 73 females (54.8%), the fourties to fifties 58.9% by age. They avoided visiting in the winter. The average number of visiting was 7.1 times. The average treatment period was 9.9days. Majority of the elapsed time from the onset to the arrival was more than 1 year (56.6%). Low back pain (56.4%) is the most in musculoskeletal disorders and obesity (21.7%) and gynecological diseases (30.4%) were the most in a non-musculoskeletal disorders. Medication and acupuncture was the major treatment. 89.2% of the prescribed medication was the efficacy of musculoskeletal. Russian medical tourists most visited by support of travel agent (58.6%). The main reason of their visiting was non-surgical treatment for spinal disorder (31%). 96.6% of them were satisfied because rapid pain relief and kindness. Conclusions For this study, we confirmed a possibility for the Korean medical treatment of Russian tourists for medical tourism. Still, more research and goverment support for the expansion of Korean medical tourism is needed.