Factors affecting utilisation of traditional Korean medical services by privately insured persons: a retrospective study using Korean Health Panel Survey (KHPS)

Objective This study aimed to use the Korean Health Panel Survey (KHPS) data to identify the key factors that influence decisions regarding the use of traditional Korean medicine (TKM) by privately insured persons.Design A retrospective study on episodic KHPS data from 2009 to 2013.Setting Nationwid...

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Main Authors: Jinho Lee, In-Hyuk Ha, Boyoung Jung, Juchul Kim
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMJ Publishing Group 2020-01-01
Series:BMJ Open
Online Access:https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/1/e033159.full
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author Jinho Lee
In-Hyuk Ha
Boyoung Jung
Juchul Kim
author_facet Jinho Lee
In-Hyuk Ha
Boyoung Jung
Juchul Kim
author_sort Jinho Lee
collection DOAJ
description Objective This study aimed to use the Korean Health Panel Survey (KHPS) data to identify the key factors that influence decisions regarding the use of traditional Korean medicine (TKM) by privately insured persons.Design A retrospective study on episodic KHPS data from 2009 to 2013.Setting Nationwide-based survey using the KHPS data.Participants The study included outpatients aged ≥20 years who had used private medical insurance at least once during the 5 years of the survey. After excluding cases where TKM was not used and those with missing values, this study ultimately included 1874 patients.Primary and secondary outcome measures The main dependent variable was TKM utilisation (number of outpatient visits and outpatient costs of TKM). We used multiple linear regression analysis to identify determinants of TKM while controlling for clustered errors.Results Approximately 6.1% (1874) of all doctor visits (30 982) were characterised as TKM services. For therapeutic purposes, TKM visits increased despite not being guaranteed in private health insurance (coefficient=3.0, p=0.045) and TKM outpatient costs decreased (coefficient=−0.3, p=0.001). Women used more therapeutic TKM services than men (coefficient=2.8, p<0.001). Older patient groups used more therapeutic TKM services than younger patient groups (coefficient=11.5, p=0.012), but paid less on outpatient costs than younger groups (coefficient=−1.0, p=0.001). For preventive services, sex and age were not statistically significant factors. Regardless of the purpose of the visit, the more chronic diseases, the more people who have previously experienced TKM service use more TKM services (p<0.001).Conclusions Despite a policy to reduce services that are not guaranteed by private health insurance, the increase in the number of outpatient visits for uncovered therapeutic TKM services implies a high public need for TKM in Korea.
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spelling doaj-art-fd894ea23f584b0cb5f66229533bc6dd2025-08-20T02:21:02ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552020-01-0110110.1136/bmjopen-2019-033159Factors affecting utilisation of traditional Korean medical services by privately insured persons: a retrospective study using Korean Health Panel Survey (KHPS)Jinho Lee0In-Hyuk Ha1Boyoung Jung2Juchul Kim31 Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea (the Republic of)Jaseng Spine and Joint Research Institute, Jaseng Medical Foundation, Seoul, South KoreaDepartment of Health Administration, Hanyang Women’s University, Seoul, South Korea2 Research Department, Research Institute of Korean Medicine Policy, Seoul, Heojun-ro, Gangseo-gu, Republic of KoreaObjective This study aimed to use the Korean Health Panel Survey (KHPS) data to identify the key factors that influence decisions regarding the use of traditional Korean medicine (TKM) by privately insured persons.Design A retrospective study on episodic KHPS data from 2009 to 2013.Setting Nationwide-based survey using the KHPS data.Participants The study included outpatients aged ≥20 years who had used private medical insurance at least once during the 5 years of the survey. After excluding cases where TKM was not used and those with missing values, this study ultimately included 1874 patients.Primary and secondary outcome measures The main dependent variable was TKM utilisation (number of outpatient visits and outpatient costs of TKM). We used multiple linear regression analysis to identify determinants of TKM while controlling for clustered errors.Results Approximately 6.1% (1874) of all doctor visits (30 982) were characterised as TKM services. For therapeutic purposes, TKM visits increased despite not being guaranteed in private health insurance (coefficient=3.0, p=0.045) and TKM outpatient costs decreased (coefficient=−0.3, p=0.001). Women used more therapeutic TKM services than men (coefficient=2.8, p<0.001). Older patient groups used more therapeutic TKM services than younger patient groups (coefficient=11.5, p=0.012), but paid less on outpatient costs than younger groups (coefficient=−1.0, p=0.001). For preventive services, sex and age were not statistically significant factors. Regardless of the purpose of the visit, the more chronic diseases, the more people who have previously experienced TKM service use more TKM services (p<0.001).Conclusions Despite a policy to reduce services that are not guaranteed by private health insurance, the increase in the number of outpatient visits for uncovered therapeutic TKM services implies a high public need for TKM in Korea.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/1/e033159.full
spellingShingle Jinho Lee
In-Hyuk Ha
Boyoung Jung
Juchul Kim
Factors affecting utilisation of traditional Korean medical services by privately insured persons: a retrospective study using Korean Health Panel Survey (KHPS)
BMJ Open
title Factors affecting utilisation of traditional Korean medical services by privately insured persons: a retrospective study using Korean Health Panel Survey (KHPS)
title_full Factors affecting utilisation of traditional Korean medical services by privately insured persons: a retrospective study using Korean Health Panel Survey (KHPS)
title_fullStr Factors affecting utilisation of traditional Korean medical services by privately insured persons: a retrospective study using Korean Health Panel Survey (KHPS)
title_full_unstemmed Factors affecting utilisation of traditional Korean medical services by privately insured persons: a retrospective study using Korean Health Panel Survey (KHPS)
title_short Factors affecting utilisation of traditional Korean medical services by privately insured persons: a retrospective study using Korean Health Panel Survey (KHPS)
title_sort factors affecting utilisation of traditional korean medical services by privately insured persons a retrospective study using korean health panel survey khps
url https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/1/e033159.full
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