The healthcare laws and healthcare system, which includes healthcare delivery system and network hospital and attending hospital system etc., have much influence on the application of Internet. Whereas government-driven healthcare delivery system had little desirable effects including increased efficiency in patient care and balanced development of various types of medical service facilities, the private hospital network was successful with the help of information interchange. The network hospital is a kind of private hospital network for patient delivery preparing for the current healthcare management issues such as the separation of pharmacy and clinic and expansion of DRG. Network hospitals has been used the internet to transfer the information of patients. Internet is not the main success factor of the network, but the it may not be successful without Internet. The attending hospital system is in it's early stage in Korea. As the number of participating physician increases, the need of information interchange will be increased. The future of the internet healthcare delivery system would be composed of web application and databases, ASP, team approach to assist physicians. The major obstacle of the system is the technical level of information system in medium and small sized hospitals. The governmental financial assistance is needed in that hospitals. The most important issue is the standardization of information. The participation of KMA in standardization is needed.
Delivery of Health Care* ; Diagnosis-Related Groups ; Hospitals, Private ; Humans ; Information Systems ; Internet* ; Jurisprudence ; Korea ; Patient Care ; Pharmacy ; Viperidae

In March 2011, after a series of discussions, the Korean government released a basic plan for functional reestablishment of medical institutions. However, the policy has ended up reestablishing the functions and roles of medical institutions without considering the advance of medical technologies and the emergence of new forms of providers. The advances of the medical knowledge and technologies enable the provision of lower-cost, higher-quality, more accessible healthcare services. Therefore, the reestablishment of medical institutions' functions needs to be done on the basis of medical technology advancement. In this article, policy suggestions and managerial implications for healthcare service providers are discussed based on disruptive innovation. It is expected to contribute to the discussions on the healthcare delivery system of Korea.
Delivery of Health Care ; Korea

In 2000, Korea enacted a controversial law prohibiting doctors from dispensing drugs. Doctors have opposed this law, and in theory, the law inconveniences patients. We assessed the relationship between patients' satisfaction with drug dispensation and their overall support for the law by using a logit model to determine the effects of the law on patients and which patients are likely to support the law. We employed random digit dialing and obtained a sample of 540 adults who had used drugs since the law was enacted. We collected the data through phone interviews. The results indicate that the respondents were generally dissatisfied with the law regardless of sociodemographic or regional characteristics. However, with other factors controlled for, those respondents from the same region as the ruling political party were significantly more likely to support the law. This implies that regional politics influenced the policymaking process through which the law was crafted and enacted.
Adult ; Health Policy ; Humans ; Jurisprudence ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Patient Satisfaction ; Politics ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVES: Intensified competitiveness in the healthcare industry has increased the number of healthcare centers and propelled the introduction of customer relationship management (CRM) systems to meet diverse customer demands. This study aimed to develop the information system success model of the CRM system by investigating previously proposed indicators within the model. METHODS: The evaluation areas of the CRM system includes three areas: the system characteristics area (system quality, information quality, and service quality), the user area (perceived usefulness and user satisfaction), and the performance area (personal performance and organizational performance). Detailed evaluation criteria of the three areas were developed, and its validity was verified by a survey administered to CRM system users in 13 nationwide health promotion centers. The survey data were analyzed by the structural equation modeling method, and the results confirmed that the model is feasible. RESULTS: Information quality and service quality showed a statistically significant relationship with perceived usefulness and user satisfaction. Consequently, the perceived usefulness and user satisfaction had significant influence on individual performance as well as an indirect influence on organizational performance. CONCLUSIONS: This study extends the research area on information success from general information systems to CRM systems in health promotion centers applying a previous information success model. This lays a foundation for evaluating health promotion center systems and provides a useful guide for successful implementation of hospital CRM systems.
Delivery of Health Care ; Health Care Sector ; Health Information Management ; Health Promotion ; Information Systems ; Medical Informatics