Yonsei Med J.  1977 Dec;18(2):166-185. 10.3349/ymj.1977.18.2.166.

A Study of Hospital Utilization by and the Cost of Care to Patients in a Private University Hospital in Seoul, Republic of Korea, 1955-1974

• Yu SH
• Yang JM
• Kim HK

• KMID: 687746
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3349/ymj.1977.18.2.166

Abstract

In an attempt to understand the changing pattern of hospital care utilization and costs, a study was made of the medical and administrative records of 7,798 patients, who were discharged from a private, university teaching hospital in the years 1955, 1960, 1965, 1970 and 1974. An analysis of the ages of the patients who utilized the hospital, revealed little change over the study in the age distribution of female patients, but did show increases in the percentages of male patients who were under 5 and over 60 years of age. The overall average length of stay in hospital decreased continuously, from 17.1 days in 1955 to 10.4 days in 1974, and the average length of stay of those who were discharged within 90 days of admission decreased from 14.4 days in 1955 to 8.9 days in 1974. Patients who received surgical treatment remained in hospital for three to four days longer than did those who received non-surgical treatment. Obstetrical cases remained in hospital for 6.9 days in 1955, and 4.8 days in 1974. A large majority of the patients (87 - 96%) were discharged within one month of admission, and virtually all (97.5 - 99.4%) within three months. In respect to the place of residence of the patients, the data revealed that 80% were from Seoul Two-thirds of the patients from Seoul resided in districts immediately surrounding the hospital, showing that despite increasingly effective transportation facilities, hospital utilization continued to be localized to people living in areas near the institution. The study revealed little change in disease patterns over the years: the percentage of obstetrical admissions remained highest with infectious and parasitic diseases, gastrointestinal diseases, injuries, neoplasms and respiratory diseases ranking in descending order. The status of patients at time of discharge showed improvement: the recovery rate increased, and the proportion of patients who died decreased. Total hospital expenses increase 4.4 times and expenses per patient day increased 6.2 times, both results having been determined through the use of constant market prices. It is considered that the latter increase resulted primarily from intensification of medical care and shortening of the hospitalization period. Among the various components of hospital care costs, room (hotel-type) and treatment expenses remained at approximately 40%of the total, while expenses for drugs and injections were approximately 20% in each of the five years of the study. Study of the relative increase of hospital costs by component of care revealed that the highest. increases over the twenty-year period was in the cost of laboratory services, followed by drugs and injections. It would seem that these high increases resulted from rapid technological developments in diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.

MeSH Terms

Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Child
Child, Preschool
Costs and Cost Analysis*
Female
Hospitals, Teaching/utilization*
Hospitals, University/economics
Hospitals, University/trends
Hospitals, University/utilization*
Human
Korea
Length of Stay
Male
Middle Age