보건복지부 영문홈페이지

Number of long-term care insurance beneficiaries to be increased to 500,000by 2017, and working conditions for nursing home workers to be improved

-       Mid- and long-term plans to enhance the quality of long-term care insurance was announced –

 

A new blueprint for long-term care insurance for the next five years was presented, which is considered the new practice of filial piety in this aging society.

 

①    (Beneficiaries to be increased) Not only the elderly with serious physical conditions, but also those who need 24 hour care, such as dementia patients, will receive benefits from the long-term care insurance.

-       Around 500,000 elderly people, which is about 7 percent of the total elderly population, will be beneficiaries by 2017.

②    (Service quality to be enhanced) Working conditions and income levels of care takers will be improved to the level of workers at social welfare organizations.

-       Income levels and assessment systems will be reformed in order to meet public needs and provide more in-home care services, including day-and-night care and visiting care.

③    (More jobs to be created at nursing homes) The number of workers at nursing homes is expected to increase from the current 280,000 up to 370,000, an increase of 90,000.

④    (Insurance finance consistency to be secured) A finance management system will be secured to maintain a balance between the expansion of insurance coverage and insurance finances.

 

Minister of Health and Welfare Rim Chemin confirmed and announced a master plan regarding long-term care insurance after deliberations during the 3^rd round of meetings between the long-term care insurance committee and the social welfare review committee.

 

The Ministry of Health and Welfare made quantitative assessments on the “settlement process of the system which trained and fostered service providers and replenished infrastructures.

 

-       The next five years are defined as the “growth period” of the system to meet the increasing demands of elderly care and enhance the quality of services to prepare for the continuously aging society.

 

Detailed contents of the master plan are as follows:

①    (More elderly people to be benefited) The number of beneficiaries will reach approximately 500,000, up 170,000 from the current number of beneficiaries (330,000), by the year 2017, which is the expected period that the nation will enter an aged society.

-       Minimum scores required to receive long-term care insurance payments will be lowered (grade 3 insurance scores will be reduced from the 75-53 range to the 75-51 range for the 2013 budget), and judgment standards for providing care services to the elderly with dementia will be improved.

-       Additional care services will be provided for the elderly who do not have a high enough score to qualify for existing long-term care services, and a pilot project will promote the development a new service model to prevent injuries due to falling down and dementia.

 

②    (Quality of the services to be improved) Various in-home care services will be developed to meet the needs of beneficiaries, and payment services will be improved.

-       Care services will be made more accessible by expanding day-and-night care service facilities, and visiting care services will be encouraged by increasing subsidies.

-       Detailed standards to assess service qualities will be arranged to effectively provide  payments, and focus will be placed on strengthening direct services for physical and cognitive improvements of the beneficiaries.

-       Under-qualified facilities will be expelled to maintain a high quality service infrastructure, and working conditions for care taking staff will also be improved.

 

Major contents of improvements in working conditions for care takers▪ Salaries of care takers will be increased to the level of workers at social welfare facilities, and the rights of those workers will be strengthened with a new contract covering salary standards.

▪ Facilities will hire additional staff members to reduce heavy workloads, and working conditions and job security will be included as items in the government-run assessment system to encourage nursing organizations to make autonomous improvements. 

▪ Working conditions will be improving the internal stability of training programs, activities to strengthen the prevention of musculoskeletal diseases, and dispatching expert counselors for handling complaints such as being assigned unjustified labor.

 

③    (Infrastructures to be improved) In accordance with the increasing number of long-term beneficiaries, public infrastructures for provincial governments and insurance subscribers will be expanded focusing on service isolated areas.

Expected changes in capacities for long-term care organizations

▪ in-home care service providers (users): 184,000 people in 2011 -> 314,000 people in 2017 (up 130,000)

* day-and-night care service providing facilities: 15,000 people in 2011 -> 31,000 people in 2017

▪ care service facilities (capacity): 124,000 people in 2011 -> 155,000 people in 2017 (up 31,000)

* capacity at public facilities: 74,000 people in 2011 -> 100,000 people in 2017

- Medical support within patient admitting facilities will be strengthened,  such as setting treatment standards for commissioned doctors.

- As a long-term plan, various alternatives will be devised to support medical services covered by the care insurance.

 

④    (Stable finance management) A sustainable finance management system will be established in order to prepare for the rapid aging of the population and be able to meet the increasing demands for expanded insurance coverage.

-       A model for mid- and long-term financial projections will be established to fit the nation’s realistic care services, and sound finance conditions will be maintained by securing reasonable insurance premiums.

Supervising and managing the illegal and unlawful actions of facilities and beneficiaries will be strengthened, and strict accounting standards will be applied to care facilities to prevent internal financial ambiguity.

 

The Ministry of Health and Welfare expects this master plan to be an important cornerstone in lessoning the burdens of families who need to take care of an elderly family member, as well as improving the quality of care services.

 

The ministry said it will establish and execute specific plans for individual tasks to faithfully carry out this mid- and long-term plan.