Background In the Republic of Korea, which medical specialties should take the responsibility for primary care and what the role of primary care should be are still unclear. In this study, we focused on the comprehensiveness of primary care to identify related factors.
Methods The National Health Insurance Service (NHIS)-National Sample Cohort is a population-based cohort, sampled in the 2002 NHIS database and followed up until 2015. We used data collected from January 2014 to December 2015, including 20,423,832 outpatient visits in 19,557 office-based clinics. The Korean government has designated 52 simple or minor disease groups (SMDGs) to enhance the experience of patients who attend primary care for managing those diseases. We assessed comprehensiveness for each clinic as the number of SMDGs treated in each clinic for 2 years. We also identified the factors related to higher comprehensiveness, using logistic regression for analysis.
Results The clinics included in the study had provided treatment for an average of 14 SMDGs during a 2-year period. Compared to general practitioners, internal medicine physicians presented higher comprehensiveness with an odds ratio (OR) of 2.29 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.03–2.59), and family medicine physicians illustrated higher comprehensiveness (OR, 4.96; 95% CI, 3.59–6.83). Other specialties showed lower comprehensiveness than general practitioners. Clinics located in the capital city and metropolitan area tended to have lower comprehensiveness. Clinics hiring more doctors and having hospitalization facility showed higher comprehensiveness.
Conclusion General physician, internal medicine, and family medicine are the fields providing comprehensive medical care in Korea. Clinics located in metropolitan area and capital city show lower comprehensiveness. The number of physicians is related to higher comprehensiveness of clinics.
Citations
Citations to this article as recorded by
Prescription Trends of Initial Antihypertensive Medications among Presumed Treatment-Naïve Individuals in Korea: A Retrospective Analysis Nam Kyung Je, Hajung Joo, Seung Eun Chae, Yeong Rok Eom, Andrew Y. Hwang Journal of Korean Medical Science.2026;[Epub] CrossRef
Comprehensiveness in Primary Care: A Scoping Review AGNES GRUDNIEWICZ, ELLEN RANDALL, LORI JONES, AIDAN BODNER, M. RUTH LAVERGNE The Milbank Quarterly.2025; 103(1): 153. CrossRef
Scope of practice of Japanese primary care physicians and its associated factors: a cross-sectional study Tomoya Higuchi, Mieko Nakamura, Toshiyuki Ojima, Machiko Inoue Family Medicine and Community Health.2025; 13(1): e003191. CrossRef
Reinforcing Primary Care in Korea: Policy Implications, Data Sources, and Research Methods Chung-Nyun Kim, Seok-Jun Yoon Journal of Korean Medical Science.2025;[Epub] CrossRef
Editorial: The impact of primary care on cancer screening program performance: strategies to increase uptake and effectiveness Cecilia Acuti Martellucci, Enrique Quintero, Christos Lionis Frontiers in Medicine.2025;[Epub] CrossRef
Impact of Comprehensive Primary Care in Patients With Complex Chronic Diseases: Nationwide Cohort Database Analysis in Korea Ryun Hur, Kyoung-Hoon Kim, Dal-Lae Jin, Seok-Jun Yoon Journal of Korean Medical Science.2024;[Epub] CrossRef
Evaluation of Empirical Antibiotic Therapy in Women With Acute Cystitis Visiting Outpatient Clinic in South Korea Song Hyeon Jeon, Taeyeon Kim, Nam Kyung Jeon Infectious Diseases in Clinical Practice.2024;[Epub] CrossRef
Successes, weaknesses, and recommendations to strengthen primary health care: a scoping review Aklilu Endalamaw, Daniel Erku, Resham B. Khatri, Frehiwot Nigatu, Eskinder Wolka, Anteneh Zewdie, Yibeltal Assefa Archives of Public Health.2023;[Epub] CrossRef
Potentially Inappropriate Gastrointestinal Medication for Patients with the Common Cold Minjeong Kim, Nam Kyung Je Research in Clinical Pharmacy.2023; 1(2): 100. CrossRef
Health promotion: the essence of primary healthcare Sung Sunwoo Journal of the Korean Medical Association.2022; 65(12): 772. CrossRef
First
Prev
