title: The Ecology of Medical Care in Korea.
abstract: This study aimed to describe the ecology of medical care in Korea. Using the yearly data of 2012 derived from the Korea Health Panel, we estimated the numbers of people per 1,000 residents aged 18 and over who had any health problem and/or any medical care at a variety of care settings, such as clinics, hospitals, and tertiary hospitals, in an average month. There was a total of 11,518 persons in the study population. While the number of those who had any health problem in an average month was estimated to be 939 per 1,000 persons, the estimated numbers of ambulatory care users were 333 at clinics, 101 at hospital outpatient departments, 35 at tertiary hospital outpatient departments, and 38 for Korean Oriental medical providers. The number of people who used emergency care at least once was 7 per 1,000 persons in an average month. The numbers of people hospitalized in clinics and hospitals were 3 and 8, respectively, while 3 persons were admitted to tertiary hospitals. There was a gap between the number of people experiencing any health problem and that of those having any medical care, and primary care comprised a large share of people's medical care experiences. It was noteworthy that more patients received ambulatory care at tertiary hospitals in Korea than in other countries. We hope that discussion about care delivery system reform and further studies will be encouraged.
authors.affiliation: Public Health Policy Institute, Seoul Metropolitan Government, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Yong Soo
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7486-9089
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Hallym University, Chuncheon, Korea.|Health Services Research Center, Hallym University, Chuncheon, Korea. ychoi@hallym.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Yong Jun
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1622-3175
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Choi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D016208:Databases, Factual; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D056910:Republic of Korea; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Delivery of Health Care; Health Services Research; Primary Health Care; Republic of Korea