Korean J Fam Pract.
2024 Mar;14(1):2-10. 10.21215/kjfp.2024.14.1.2.
Long-Term and Community Care from a Physician’s Perspective
- Affiliations
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- 1Department of Family Medicine, Hallym University College of Medicine, Chuncheon, Korea
- KMID: 2554227
- DOI: http://doi.org/10.21215/kjfp.2024.14.1.2
Abstract
- South Korea will become a super-aged society by 2025, with >20% of its population being aged ≥65 years. In addition, since the baby boomer cohort transitioned into the elderly age-group 4 years ago, the number of people aged ≥75 years is expected to increase dramatically in the next few years. This means that the number of elderly people needing long-term care will increase as the number of frail elderly individuals increases. The longterm care insurance (LTCI) system was introduced in Korea 15 years ago. However, as resources for long-term care services in the community continued to remain insufficient, the number of patients institutionalized or admitted to geriatric hospitals increased making integrated community care more important. Consequently, a community-integrated care policy was implemented in 2018. However, primary care physicians in Korea are still largely unaware of the meaning and importance of long-term and community-integrated care in geriatric healthcare. This is due to the separation of healthcare and social care from the time LTCI was introduced. To achieve healthy aging, primary healthcare professionals must recognize and actively participate in long-term integrated care. Now is the time to dramatically increase the participation of primary care physicians in home-visit care. They must ensure proper completion of medical statement forms for long-term and integrated care and act as dedicated physicians for residents of nursing facilities.
