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Mayor Park Heong-joon: “Discharge Is Not the End but the Beginning of Care”… Busan to Establish Integrated Care Linkage Cooperation System

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) and the Busan Metropolitan City Hospital Association (Chairman Park Jong-ho) announced that they will sign a “Business Agreement for Establishing an Integrated Care Linkage Cooperation System for Discharged Patients” to support patients in safely returning to their communities and continuously receiving care services after discharge.

The signing ceremony will take place today (24th) at 2:00 PM in the International Protocol Room at City Hall, attended by officials including the Director General of the Social Welfare Bureau of the city and Chairman Park Jong-ho of the Busan Metropolitan City Hospital Association, along with representatives from related institutions.

This agreement targets 53 hospital-level medical institutions affiliated with the Busan Metropolitan City Hospital Association in response to the rapidly increasing demand for medical and care services in a super-aged society. Previously, patients often experienced a “revolving door phenomenon,” returning to hospitals due to insufficient care during their transition back to daily life after discharge. Through this agreement, it is expected that such gaps in care will be resolved by organically linking medical institutions with community welfare resources.

Through this agreement, the two institutions have agreed to actively cooperate in areas such as ▲establishing a discharge patient management system ▲linking community services ▲information sharing and monitoring.

First, under the establishment of a discharge patient management system, patients’ care needs will be identified in advance before discharge through hospital social work offices or service desks. For community service linkage, services such as medical care, nursing, and caregiving will be provided by connecting patients with dedicated integrated care organizations in each district and county according to their condition. In addition, for information sharing and monitoring, the post-discharge status of linked patients will be continuously monitored, and inter-agency cooperation will be strengthened to enhance the effectiveness of the project.

In particular, the participation of 53 hospitals (with 100 or more beds) affiliated with the Busan Metropolitan City Hospital Association is expected to serve as a momentum for upgrading the quality of community-based medical services. The city plans to further expand cooperation with local medical institutions to support the healthy return of discharged patients to the community and to build a sustainable integrated care environment.

Mayor Park Heong-joon stated, “The moment a patient leaves the hospital should mark not the end of care but a new beginning. Through close cooperation with hospitals in the city, we will create ‘Busan, a 15-minute care city’ where citizens can enjoy a healthy and dignified old age in the place they have lived.”

He added, “Once this project is fully on track, it is expected not only to reduce unnecessary long-term hospitalizations and improve the financial sustainability of the national health insurance system, but also to ease the caregiving burden on families.”