Regional Difference in Preventable Hospitalizations in South Korea

Abstract: Governments are responsible for guaranteeing the right to health and for providing equitable use of health care services to the people under their jurisdiction. The numbers of preventable hospitalizations are used to indicate the adequacy of primary care. This study used inpatient discharge data and hospital data from 2012 to examine regional variation in preventable hospitalizations among the populations who were under 226 local governments in South Korea. Regional variables related to this variation were also explored. The social determinants of a health framework—local healthcare resources, socioeconomic factors, and political factors—were used to estimate the number of hospital admissions for ambulatory care sensitive conditions. The results of a multiple regression analysis show that the availability of healthcare resources and economic wealth have a strong association with the number of preventable hospitalizations; however, no statistically significant difference was found with regard to the left- and right-wing political party affiliations of the governmental heads. The implications of the findings are also discussed.