The Effects of Hospital Resources on the Service Uses: Hospital Service Area Approach / 보건행정학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: This study explored the relationship between hospital resources and services uses in outpatient/inpatient-based hospital service area (HSA) in Korea. METHODS: Study hospitals included all acute care hospitals except tertiary hospitals. Inpatient and outpatient hospital claims from the Korean National Health Insurance (NHI) program in 2010 were used to identify the service uses. Hospital resources and the degree of insurance premium in study areas were identified with the NHI corporation data. Study variables were computed by summing the service uses or hospital resources of study hospitals in each HSA. Service uses were represented by the total medical charges and number of visits/inpatient days. Hospital resources were measured by number of beds, number of doctors, and number of computed tomography (CT). The economic status of NHI enrollees in each HSA was controlled by the average monthly premium of NHI program per household in each HSA. The degree of using local hospitals was controlled with the localization index. RESULTS: Analysis results showed that hospital resources such as beds, CT were statistically related to the service uses. And also localization index was found to have positive significant relationships with service uses. CONCLUSION: Hospital resources such as beds, CT had not only positive impacts on inpatient service uses, but also influences on the outpatient setting. Health policy makers will require monitoring and assessing the hospital resources in Korea.