- Cost-of-illness Study of Asthma in Korea: Estimated from the Korea National Health Insurance Claims Database.
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Choon Seon Park, Hye Young Kang, Il Kwon, Dae Ryong Kang, Hye Young Jung
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J Prev Med Public Health. 2006;39(5):397-403.
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 Abstract
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- OBJECTIVES
We estimated the asthma-related health care utilization and costs in Korea from the insurer's and societal perspective. METHODS: We extracted the insurance claims records from the Korea National Health Insurance claims database for determining the health care services provided to patients with asthma in 2003. Patients were defined as having asthma if they had > or =2 medical claims with diagnosis of asthma and they had been prescribed anti-asthma medicines. Annual claims records were aggeregated for each patient to produce patient-specific information on the total utilization and costs. The total asthma-related cost was the sum of the direct healthcare costs, the transportation costs for visits to healthcare providers and the patient's or caregivers' costs for the time spent on hospital or outpatient visits. RESULTS: A total of 699,603people were identified as asthma patients, yielding an asthma prevalence of 1.47%. Each asthma patient had 7.56 outpatient visits, 0.01 ED visits and 0.02 admissions per year to treat asthma.The per-capita insurance-covered costs increased with age, from 128,276 Won for children aged 1 to 14 years to 270,729 Won for those aged 75 or older. The total cost in the nation varied from 121,865 million to 174,949 million Won depending on the perspectives. From a societal perspective, direct healthcare costs accounted for 84.9%, transportation costs for 15.1% and time costs for 9.2% of the total costs. CONCLUSIONS: Hospitalizations and ED visits represented only a small portion of the asthma-related costs. Most of the societal burden was attributed to direct medical expenditures, with outpatient visits and medications emerging as the single largest cost components.
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Summary
- A Study on the Association between Healthcare Utilization and the Burden of Families Caring for the Elderly in the Last 6 Months of Life.
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Jee Jeon Yi, Hee Na Lee, Heechoul Ohrr, Hye Young Jung, Sang Wook Yi
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Korean J Prev Med. 2003;36(4):332-338.
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Abstract
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- OBJECTIVE
To investigate the relationship between medical expenses and the burden of families caring for the elderly in the last 6 months of life, and to evaluate the factors relating to the burden of family caregivers. METHODS: The families of 301 persons older than 65 years, who died between 1 July and 31 December 2001, and were registered in Resident-based- Health Insurance Programs in Seoul, were interviewed. The medical expenses and length of stay among the elderly were collected from Korean Health Insurance Corporations. RESULTS: 31 percents of the elderly had no medical expenses in the last 6 months of life. On average, the objective burden (4.92) was higher than the subjective burden (3.35). Families caring for male elderly had a higher burden. With increasing age at death, the objective burden was significantly increased. The burden on a family seemed to be influenced more by the family income than the property of the elderly. With increasing total health care costs, the objective burden on the family caregivers was significantly increased, but with increasing medical expenses, the subjective burden was significantly decreased. CONCLUSION: An association between healthcare utilization and burden on families was observed. The reason for the decreasing subjective burden when medical expenses were decreased was unclear. Further research will be needed.
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KSPM
