title: Effect of a comprehensive health care program by korean medicine doctors on medical care utilization for common infectious diseases in child-care centers.
abstract: As the role of traditional medicine in community health improvement increases, a comprehensive health care program for infectious diseases management in child-care centers by Korean medicine doctors was developed. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of the program intervention on infection-related medical care utilization among children. The study used a quasi-experimental design with nonequivalent control group, comparing pre- and post-intervention data of the same children. The program implemented interventions in terms of management, education, and medical examination for the teachers, parents, and children in 12-week period. The frequency of utilization, cost, and prescription days of drugs and antibiotics due to infectious diseases prior to the intervention were compared with those during the 3-month intervention, using health insurance claim data. A panel analysis was also conducted to support the findings. A significant reduction (12%) in infection-related visit days of hospitals was observed with the intervention (incident rate ratio = 0.88, P = 0.01). And medical cost, drug prescription days, and antibiotics prescription days were decreased, although not statistically significant. A further cost-effectiveness analysis in terms of social perspectives, considering the opportunity costs for guardians to take children to medical institutions, would be needed.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Sillim-dong, Kwanak-gu, Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Minjung
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-2219-9666
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Division of Traditional Korean Medicine Industry, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Doum 4-ro, Sejong-si 339-012, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jimin
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2519-7060
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Sillim-dong, Kwanak-gu, Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Soonman
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kwon