The medical expenses were compared before, January to March 2003, and after, January to March 2004, the introduction in August 2003 of a computerized review system for acute and chronic respiratory diseases to determine if the altered assessment due t...
The medical expenses were compared before, January to March 2003, and after, January to March 2004, the introduction in August 2003 of a computerized review system for acute and chronic respiratory diseases to determine if the altered assessment due to the newly installed computerized review system changed any application and treatment procedures among hospital visits of three days and less for acute respiratory diseases.
Medical benefits for acute and chronic respiratory diseases decreased by 2.63% and the number of medical examinations decreased by 1% after the introduction of the computerized review system. Even considering the increase by about 3% in the estimation of medical benefits at the level of clinics (Annual Report of Health Insurance Review Statistics, Health Insurance Review Agency, 2004), the amount of decrease was found to be less significant.
The most frequently treated acute and chronic respiratory diseases was acute bronchitis (J20), at 17.45% of all respiratory diseases, followed by acute tonsillitis (J03) (14.34%), acute upper respiratory infections of multiple and unspecified sites (J06) (13.37%), and acute pharyngitis (J02) (10.83%). The number of medical examinations for mild disease such as nasopharyngitis, decreased, except other diseases of upper respiratory tract (J39), while that for tonsillitis, severe sinusitis, and asthma increased. The number of medical examinations for 9 of the 10 kinds of chronic respiratory diseases, except chronic nasopharyngitis (J31), increased, while that for 7 of the 8 kinds of diseases not differently classified and unspecified increased.
Medical expenses per case decreased most significantly for unspecified chronic bronchitis (J42), followed by asthma (J45), simple and mucopurulent chronic bronchitis (J41), peritonsillar abscess (J36), and acute bronchiolitis (J21). The number of medical examinations for all of these diseases increased after the introduction of the computerized review system with a greater degree of increase for hospital visits of three days and less than for those of four days and over. This increased number of cases but decreased medical expenses per case places some doubt regarding the change from acute to chronic respiratory diseases.
The number of medication dates per prescription increased, except for influenza, and unidentified virus(J11) showed a statistically significant differences after the introduction of the computerized review system. Chronic respiratory diseases showed a greater increase than acute ones.
As for the number of drugs per prescription, most showed a statistically significant decrease after the introduction of the computerized review system. Before the introduction, the number of drugs was greatest (5.57) for pneumonia. Unspecified organism(J18) and diseases of lower respiratory tract, such as bronchitis, pneumonia, and asthma, had a greater number of drugs than those of upper respiratory tract, such as nasopharyngitis and tonsillitis. The number of drugs decreased significantly after the introduction of the computerized review system for acute nasopharyngitis (J00, J02, J06), acute bronchitis (J20, J21), pneumonia (J12∼J18), and asthma (J45, J46).
Unspecified chronic bronchitis (J42) had the statistically most significant decrease in medication expenses per prescription after the introduction of the computerized review system, followed by asthma (J45), chronic nasopharyngitis (J31), and simple and mucopurulent chronic bronchitis (J41), which was similar to the decrease in medical expenses per case.
There was a statistically significant decrease in the prescription rate of antibiotics and steroids but a statistically significant increase in that of antitussive-apophlegmatics, digestive organ drugs, and antipyretic analgesics. There was a statistically significant decrease in the medication expenses per prescription for antitussive-apophlegmatics, antibiotics against acute respiratory diseases, and steroids but a statistically significant increase in the expenses for digestive organ drugs against acute respiratory diseases and antipyretic analgesics. Except antitussive-apophlegmatics, there was a statistically significant increase in medication expenses per prescription for antibiotics, steroids, digestive organ drugs against acute respiratory diseases, and antipyretic analgesics. There was a statistically significant decrease in the number of medication dates per prescription for steroids but a statistically significant increase in that for antitussive-apophlegmatics against acute respiratory diseases, digestive organ drugs, and antipyretic analgesics. Generally, after the introduction of the computerized review system, prescriptions of antitussive-apophlegmatics, antibiotics, and steroids decreased while those of digestive organ drugs and antipyretic analgesics increased.