"We Will Provide Care in Familiar Homes Instead of Nursing Facilities"

Nationwide Implementation of Community Integrated Care Begins March 27
Initial Phase Through Next Year, Full Enhancement by 2030
Aiming to Reduce Institutionalization and Ease Family Burden

As the rapid pace of aging increases the number of people in need of care, the government will begin integrating various care services, such as medical care and nursing, which were previously offered separately. The ultimate goal is to enable seniors and people with disabilities to receive various forms of support, such as home visits by doctors, while remaining in their own homes, thereby reducing the caregiving burden on families. The Community Integrated Care Program, which will be introduced this year, will go through an initial implementation phase until next year and is set to be further enhanced starting in 2030.

On March 10, the Ministry of Health and Welfare held a Community Integrated Care Policy Committee meeting at the Government Complex Seoul to discuss the roadmap for promoting the community integrated care initiative.

The Community Integrated Care Program was introduced to provide an integrated network of care services—such as medical and nursing care—which were previously offered independently, in response to the deepening of the aging population and the rising demand for complex care. After a period of preparation, the program is scheduled to be implemented nationwide on March 27.

The roadmap was developed to share the direction of policy implementation before the system goes into effect. It is divided into three phases—initial phase (2026–2027), stabilization phase (2028–2029), and advancement phase (2030)—and outlines plans for expanding the target population, increasing services, and strengthening the system foundation.

Initially, community integrated care will target seniors, older adults with disabilities, and people under 65 with severe physical disabilities (such as mobility or brain impairment) who have high medical needs. In the second phase, the program will be expanded to include those with severe mental illnesses, and consideration will be given to expanding it to all people with disabilities. The government will continue to analyze types of individuals with high care needs and plans to further increase the target population in the third phase.

In terms of services, the first phase will focus on linking 30 types across four areas: healthcare, health management, long-term care, and daily living support.

First, the program will expand home medical services, such as home visits by doctors, dementia management, chronic disease and mental health management, and support for patients discharged from hospitals.

Second, comprehensive health management services will be provided, including home health monitoring using smart devices, support for physical activity for seniors and people with disabilities, and community-based rehabilitation programs for the disabled.

Third, the program will increase limits for home nursing, home care, and home bathing services, and expand short-term care services at day and night care centers. In addition, home medical centers will be established to improve access to medical services.

In the second phase, new services such as home rehabilitation, home nutrition, hospital accompaniment, and integrated home nursing will be institutionalized based on pilot projects conducted in the first phase, and a pilot project for end-of-life care will be launched. The government will also establish community support infrastructure, such as mental health rehabilitation facilities and shelters, in line with the implementation of integrated care for people with mental illness.

In the third phase, a comprehensive service support system will be established, covering the entire continuum from frailty prevention to end-of-life care, to enhance the quality and diversity of services. Accordingly, the number of service types will be expanded by 30, from 30 in the first phase to a total of 60.

To lay the foundation for the community integrated care system, the first phase will focus on enhancing the operational base for integrated care.

First, a central government implementation system and a central-local cooperation framework will be established, with basic plans (central) and regional plans (local) formulated in tandem. Within communities, the integrated support council will play a central role in strengthening cooperation among local governments, specialized institutions, and service providers.

Second, the capacity of dedicated personnel and service providers will be enhanced through targeted training programs.

Third, budget support will be linked to performance using evaluation indicators, such as the rate of reduction in social hospitalizations or institutionalizations, and an information linkage system will be established to improve the operational efficiency of integrated care.

In the second phase, laws and regulations will be revised to ensure that multidisciplinary services such as home nursing and home rehabilitation can operate smoothly. The application process and methods of providing integrated care services will also be improved to make them more convenient for users.

In the third phase, the government will review mid-to-long-term structural reforms of care financing, which is currently divided among health insurance, long-term care insurance, and budgets, and will refine the service delivery system by consolidating overlapping or redundant care programs at central and local government levels.

To ensure smooth implementation of the system, the government will continuously monitor local governments’ readiness and encourage compliance. Even after the system is launched, the government will conduct fact-finding surveys to analyze which services are needed and what is actually being provided in each region, and, based on these findings, will devise a detailed basic plan in the second half of this year to specify projects for the next five years and establish management strategies for implementation.

Minister of Health and Welfare Jeong Eun-kyeong stated, "Community integrated care is a core system that supports citizens with daily living difficulties to live healthily in their own communities," adding, "Just as major countries like Japan and the UK have spent 10–20 years developing such systems, the government will continue to improve and supplement the program so that the public can truly experience an integrated care system."

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