Three months have passed since the Act on Integrated Support for Community Care Including Medical Care and Long-Term Care took effect in March this year. During that period, the Ministry of Health and Welfare held the fifth meeting of the AI Welfare and Care Innovation Task Force on the 25th, presided over by First Vice Minister Hyun Soo-yup. On the same day, a report was published on a case in which a person trying to apply for home visit care was told it would take a month and gave up, and the ministry responded with an explanatory statement.
The picture the law drew is clear. It is to link medical care, long-term care and housing into a single package of support along the way home after leaving the hospital. The ministry formed the AI Welfare and Care Task Force in August last year, and based on a roadmap organized into three areas of care innovation, welfare administration and innovation infrastructure, it has a schedule to finalize an AI Welfare and Care Innovation Plan during the second half of this year. The meeting on the 25th was attended by officials from six institutions including the Korea Social Security Information Service, the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, the Central Social Service Agency, the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, the Korea Human Resource Development Institute for Health and Welfare, and the National Health Insurance Service.
Design work is also under way in the regions. Daegu is running Dandi Care, centered on eup, myeon and dong offices, in line with the law taking effect, and says it has opened the country's first Memory Care School for older people with mild dementia who have difficulty using long-term care services. The Jeonju City Council and Jincheon County in North Chungcheong Province came to see the model, and on the 23rd about 30 officials from private long-term care facilities and hospitals in Japan toured the Daegu Western Geriatric Hospital, Sarangmoa Silver Town and the Daegu Saem Memory School.
Asan in South Chungcheong Province held a cooperation meeting on the same day, organized by its senior welfare division. The health promotion division, social welfare division, disability welfare division and multi-family housing division sat together, and the senior welfare division took on the role of control tower and decided to link home medical care, case management, activity support for people with disabilities, and home remodeling for older residents.
Gyeonggi Province is preparing the Gyeonggi-style Integrated Care (G-Care) pledged by Governor-elect Choo Mi-ae. The Integrated Care Special Committee of the Fair, Innovative and Inclusive Gyeonggi Preparatory Committee visited Onieumchae and the Hwaseong Home Care Support Center for Older Adults in Hwaseong on the 23rd to examine the delivery system and the operating model. Onieumchae is care-safe housing that provides housing and services together to residents facing gaps in care after discharge. The G-Care plan is considering the introduction of care managers, staff responsible for following one person through to the end, and how many will be placed, from which budget and starting when remain to be decided.
Seongdong District in Seoul worked on a different part. It published an Integrated Care Guidebook that gathers 105 tailored services across five areas including health care, long-term care and housing welfare into a single volume. For each item, such as support for out-of-pocket costs for visiting medical care, safe ambulances and transport support for hospital accompaniment, it states who is eligible and where to apply. The booklet has been placed at 35 locations including the district's 17 dong community service centers and public health centers, and it can also be viewed on the district office website.
Even with a list of 105 services in hand, an applicant who is told at the counter to wait a month does not receive the service. The theme of the 26th anniversary forum held on the 24th by the social welfare corporation Keunsomang at the Logos Center of Gwacheon Somang Church was also the outlook following the start of integrated care, and about 150 people gathered.
A petition to the National Assembly asking that more integrated care funding be included in next year's budget is also under way. In the second half of the year the government's AI innovation plan will take shape, and Gyeonggi Province's care manager design will also take form. What must be checked then is not the number of facilities and systems but how many days it took for a person who knocked on the door to get an answer.
