National Trends in Healthcare Quality in Korea: A Multidimensional Assessment Using OECD Health Care Quality Indicators (2008-2023)
AI Summary
Marked improvements in acute care and chronic disease management, including lower 30-day mortality for myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke and reduced avoidable hospitalisations.
Diabetes care improved, with cholesterol-lowering treatment rising from 44.1% to 82.5%, and patient experience on doctor patient communication approaching OECD averages.
Persistent challenges remain: excessive broad spectrum antibiotic prescribing, polypharmacy, and worsening excess mortality and stagnant post discharge suicide in mental healthcare.
J Prev Med Public Health. 2026 May 20. doi: 10.3961/jpmph.26.233. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Assessing healthcare quality at the national level is essential for evaluating health system performance and identifying areas requiring improvement. This study examined long-term trends in healthcare quality in Korea from 2008 to 2023 using internationally comparable indicators.
METHODS: We conducted a trend analysis of healthcare quality in Korea using the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Health Care Quality and Outcomes framework and quality indicators. Indicators across multiple domains, including acute care, primary care, prescribing in primary care, mental healthcare, and patient experiences, were analyzed and compared with OECD averages.
RESULTS: Healthcare quality in Korea improved across several domains. Thirty-day mortality for acute myocardial infarction decreased from 14.2% in 2008 to 10.2% in 2023, while mortality for ischemic stroke declined from 8.7% to 5.5%. Avoidable hospitalizations decreased substantially, with hospitalizations for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease declining by 59.7%. The proportion of patients with diabetes receiving cholesterol-lowering treatment increased from 44.1% to 82.5%. However, the proportion of broad-spectrum antibiotic prescriptions remained substantially higher than the OECD average (40.3 vs. 15.5%). In mental healthcare, excess mortality ratios increased from 4.3 to 4.9 for schizophrenia and from 3.5 to 4.3 for bipolar disorder, while post-discharge suicide rates showed little improvement. Patient experience indicators related to doctor-patient communication improved and approached OECD averages.
CONCLUSIONS: Healthcare quality in Korea improved substantially between 2008 and 2023, particularly in acute care outcomes and chronic disease management. However, persistent challenges remain in areas such as antibiotic use, polypharmacy, and mental healthcare. These findings provide internationally comparable evidence to inform future health policy and healthcare quality improvement efforts.
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