Ministry of Health and Welfare Establishes 'Infection Control Indicators' in Long-term Care Facility Evaluations to Strengthen Infectious Disease Response

New Indicators Established for Infectious Disease and Disinfection Management... Indicators Related to Human Rights Protection Also Added

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] The government has established new infection control indicators in the evaluation criteria to strengthen quarantine management of long-term care institutions providing elderly care services.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare on the 9th, the revision of the "Notice on the Evaluation Methods of Long-term Care Institutions," which includes the establishment of infection control indicators in the evaluation of home care long-term care institutions, will be issued and implemented on the 10th.

This revision includes the establishment and strengthening of infection control indicators in the current evaluation criteria for home care long-term care institutions, as well as the introduction of exception rules for evaluations considering disaster situations such as COVID-19.

Long-term care institutions provide support for physical activities, household activities, or nursing care to elderly people aged 65 or older, or those under 65 with geriatric diseases. Home care benefits refer to long-term care received by the elderly at home.

The revised notice newly establishes an "Infectious Disease Management" indicator for day and night care benefits and short-term care benefits among long-term care home care benefits, enabling evaluation of response systems and appropriate measures when infectious disease outbreaks occur.

For welfare equipment benefits, a "Disinfection Management" indicator has been newly established. Accordingly, long-term care institutions will be evaluated on whether they keep disinfection guidelines and manuals and manage disinfectants properly.

The existing indicators of "Hygienic Service Provision" and "Infection Control Activities" have been strengthened with the addition of interviews with workers and recipients. While self-disinfection was previously recognized under the infection control activities indicator, only professional disinfection companies will be recognized after the change.

Additionally, in the event of disaster situations such as COVID-19, an exception rule has been introduced allowing the evaluation committee to change or extend the timing of regular evaluations after deliberation.

There are also revisions for human rights protection. Among home care benefits, including day and night care benefits, short-term care benefits, visiting care benefits, and visiting bathing benefits, a new "Employee Rights Protection" indicator has been established to evaluate the protection of workers' human rights. In April, the National Human Rights Commission recommended the Minister of Health and Welfare to create specific guidelines to protect home care workers from human rights violations, which has been reflected in this revision.

For welfare equipment benefits, a new "Elderly Human Rights Protection" indicator has been created to evaluate whether abuse prevention education has been conducted for recipients and workers.

Eun Sung-ho, Director of Elderly Policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said, "In a situation where COVID-19 has not been completely eradicated, quarantine management response in the long-term care field cannot be emphasized enough," adding, "Through the improvement of evaluation indicators, we expect to enhance the quarantine management response capabilities in the long-term care system field and to increase interest in quarantine management in the long-term care field in the future."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.