J Bone Metab.  2022 Aug;29(3):191-196. 10.11005/jbm.2022.29.3.191.

Effects of the Revised Reimbursement Guideline for Anti-Osteoporosis Medication in South Korea

• Ko YS
• Jeong Y
• Park JW
• Lee YK
• Koo KH

• KMID: 2533669
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.11005/jbm.2022.29.3.191

Abstract

Background
The Korean National Health Insurance (NHI) reimbursement guideline was revised in May 2015 with the aim of preventing secondary osteoporotic fractures. Here we compared the: (1) rate of bone mineral density (BMD) measurements; (2) prescription rate of anti-osteoporosis medication within 3 months after hip fracture surgery (HFS); (3) incidence of a second hip fracture; and (4) first-year mortality rate after HFS.
Methods
This before-after study used the revised reimbursement system as a reference period. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 515 patients who underwent HFS at a tertiary referral hospital between January 2014 and December 2016. The period 1 group underwent HFS in 2014, while the period 2 group underwent HFS in 2016.
Results
Despite the fact that there was no significant intergroup difference in BMD measurement rate, the period 2 group had a higher prescription rate for anti-osteoporosis drugs within 3 months of HFS. However, the incidence of a second hip fracture did not differ between groups. The first-year mortality rate was higher in the period 1 versus period 2 group.
Conclusions
Revision of the NHI guideline in May 2015 was associated with an increased prescription rate of anti-osteoporosis medication in osteoporotic hip fracture patients.

Keyword

Hip fractures; Mortality; Osteoporosis