[Current status of costs and utilizations of hospital based home health nursing care in Korea].
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to describe the current status of utilization and costs of home health nursing care by the levels of medical institutes in Korea.


METHODS
A secondary analysis of existing data was used from the national electronic data information(EDI) of 148 home health agencies for 6 months from May to Oct 2005 in total.


RESULTS
The 148 agencies had multiple services in cerebral infaction, essential hypertension, sequela of cerebrovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, etc.. The highest 10 rankings of 76 categories of home health nursing services were composed of 96.4% of the total services, such as simple treatment, inflammatory treatment, urethra & bladder irrigation, inserting indwelling catheter etc., in that order. The highest 20 rankings of 226 categories of home examination services were composed of 77.0% of the total home examination services. In addition, the average cost of home health care per visit was 46,088 Won ( approximately 48 $, 1 $=960 Won). The costs ranged from 74,523 Won ( approximately 78 $, loss of chronic kidney function, N18) to 32,270 Won ( approximately 34 $, other cerebrovascular diseases, I67).


CONCLUSIONS
Results suggest that client characteristics of hospital based HHNC are not different from community based HHNC or visiting nursing services for elderly. The national results will contribute to baseline data used to establish a policy for the home health nursing care system and education.
Ryu
Hosihn
H
College of Nursing, Korea University, Sungbuk-ku, Seoul, Korea. hosihn@korea.ac.kr
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003152:Community Health Nursing; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D005249:Fees and Charges; D005260:Female; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018574:Home Care Agencies / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018575:Home Care Services, Hospital-Based / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006701:Home Nursing; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged