ArticleBMC health services research2017
The effect of increasing the coinsurance rate on outpatient utilization of healthcare services in South Korea.
Article in BMC health services research, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Evidence of Overlapping Roles Between Clinics and Hospitals in Primary Care.Journal of Korean medical science · 2025Article
- National trends in dyslipidemia prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control in South Korea from 2005 to 2022.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Reinforcing Primary Care in Korea: Policy Implications, Data Sources, and Research Methods.Journal of Korean medical science · 2025Review
- The Effect of Nurse Staffing on Patient Outcomes in Acute Care Hospitals in Korea.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Does coinsurance reduction influence informer-sector workers' and farmers' utilization of outpatient care? A quasi-experimental study in China.BMC health services research · 2022Article
- Can a multitiered copayment system affect people's healthcare-seeking behavior? A case study of Wenzhou, China.BMC health services research · 2022Article
- Understanding patient and physician responses to various cost-sharing programs for prescription drugs in South Korea: A multilevel analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Impact of differential copayment on patient healthcare choice: evidence from South Korean National Cohort Study.BMJ open · 2021Article
- Use of health outcome and health service utilization indicators as an outcome of access to medicines in Brazil: perspectives from a literature review.Public health reviews · 2019Review
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe Korean healthcare system is composed of costly and inefficient structures that fail to adequately divide the functions and roles of medical care organizations. To resolve this matter, the government reformed the cost-sharing policy in November of 2011 for the management of outpatients visiting general or tertiary hospitals with comparatively mild diseases. The purpose of the present study was to examine the impact of increasing the coinsurance rate of prescription drug costs for 52 mild diseases at general or tertiary hospitals on outpatient healthcare service utilization.
methodsThe present study used health insurance claim data collected from 2010 to 2013. The study population consisted of 505,691 outpatients and was defined as those aged 20-64 years who had visited medical care organizations for the treatment of 52 diseases both before and after the program began. To examine the effect of the cost-sharing policy on outpatient healthcare service utilization (percentage of general or tertiary hospital utilization, number of outpatient visits, and outpatient medical costs), a segmented regression analysis was performed.
resultsAfter the policy to increase the coinsurance rate on prescription drug costs was implemented, the number of outpatient visits at general or tertiary hospitals decreased (β = -0.0114, p < 0.0001); however, the number increased at hospitals and clinics (β = 0.0580, p < 0.0001). Eventually, the number of outpatient visits to hospitals and clinics began to decrease after policy initiation (β = -0.0018, p < 0.0001). Outpatient medical costs decreased for both medical care organizations (general or tertiary hospitals: β = -2913.4, P < 0.0001; hospitals or clinics: β = -591.35, p < 0.0001), and this decreasing trend continued with time.
conclusionsIt is not clear that decreased utilization of general or tertiary hospitals has transferred to that of clinics or hospitals due to the increased cost-sharing policy of prescription drug costs. This result indicates the cost-sharing policy, intended to change patient behaviors for healthcare service utilization, has had limited effects on rebuilding the healthcare system and the function of medical care organizations.
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