​1.Study Objectives and Methodsd

○ With the accelerated aging of Jeonbuk’s population, the number of senior citizens who live alone and need care stands at 95,000, accounting  for 23.5% of the entire elderly population. Meanwhile, about 45,000 older adults, representing 11.5% of the elderly, suffer from dementia. Despite this increase in the demand for elderly care services, public care services cover only 87,000 senior citizens (53,000 through long-term care and 34,000 through customized care services for the elderly), which demonstrates that approximately 30,000 elderly adults are not receiving proper care.

○ Although reinforcing care services entails the expansion of care infrastructure, care facilities, and care-related policy support, welfare budget constraints limit the expansion needed to meet the demand.

○ Therefore, Jeonbuk is advised to formulate customized policies and related action plans for its integrated community care system based on thoroughly examining different cases of government-driven community care systems and assessing the demand for care services in the region.

○ In other words, Jeonbuk needs to derive policy implications by reviewing care service-related policies that the central government is implementing or is planning to implement, while comparatively analyzing the cases of other regional or basic local governments with a focus on ascertaining how those local governments designed their projects and secured, utilized, and delivered project resources.

○ To identify specific targets for Jeonbuk’s integrated community  care system, we diagnosed the demand for integrated care services in the region and analyzed potential businesses that can be linked to care services.

○ Based on case studies of care services, a literature review, and the diagnosis  of the demand for care services, we sought experts’ advice on related policy directions and project priority to derive specific roadmaps.

2. Conclusion and Policy Suggestion

○ As part of the policy directions, we presented regionality, integration, and subsidiarity, proposing the launch of an integrated community care system tailored to the region’s supply and demand. Additionally, we highlighted the need to lay a foundation upon which a wide range of care services can be coordinated and integrated for the provision of comprehensive care services.

○ As a primary principle of its integrated community care system, Jeonbuk  should prioritize and pursue the national care policies and implement regional policies as supplements to what the central government fails to provide.

○ Furthermore, Jeonbuk is required to divide the recipients of its integrated community care services into three categories to offer effective and custom-tailored services. The first category includes those who are currently at or soon to be admitted to a nursing hospital that is excluded from  the  national care services. The second category refers to the group of senior citizens who are in blind spots, as they are not eligible for both national and regional care services. This group includes those who are not subject to long-term care, those who have not used long-term care benefits,  elderly adults with chronic diseases, and non-recipients of disability support  who  need care. The third category includes those who need emergency care services due to the absence of caregivers. This category is  broken  down  further into those who face discontinuation of care services, those who cannot be cared for, victims of diseases and accidents, and those who suffer from a temporary absence of care services.

○ To deliver integrated community care services in a streamlined manner, Jeonbuk needs to form a task force and encourage the departments in charge to closely collaborate to devise a related blueprint and action plans. Moreover, designating public centers of regional governments as integrated care service institutions and taking advantage of care resources in the private sector for synergies are advisable.

○ In essence, successful implementation of the integrated community care system necessitates the enactment of a local ordinance to facilitate the process of designing a master plan and establishing a legal  basis  for service eligibility  and operating organizations. Moreover, a local ordinance will dictate the legal authority and budget of regional care service committees, integrated care service councils, advisory bodies, and care service providers while prescribing the details of designating and operating those organizations.​