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Mayor Park Heong-joon: “Care System Fully Prepared”… Final Inspection Completed Ahead of Full Implementation of “Busan-Style Integrated Care”

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Busan Metropolitan City, led by Mayor Park Heong-joon, announced that it has completed a final inspection of the overall Busan-style integrated care system ahead of the enforcement of the Integrated Care Support Act on the 27th and has finalized all preparations for the system’s implementation.

The Integrated Care Support Act was enacted to enable elderly individuals, persons with disabilities, and others experiencing difficulties in daily living to enjoy a healthy life in their own homes by providing integrated and coordinated services in healthcare, long-term care, welfare, and housing.

The city has proactively built an integrated care system encompassing healthcare, long-term care, welfare, and housing based on the “Busan Together Care” initiative, and through this inspection, has elevated readiness to a level where the system can operate immediately in the field upon enforcement.

“Busan Together Care” is a Busan Metropolitan City initiative implemented prior to the enforcement of the Integrated Care Support Act, providing services such as post-discharge care support and hospital accompaniment for citizens experiencing difficulties in daily life.

On March 18, the city held a meeting of the Integrated Support Council to gather expert advisory opinions on the 2026 integrated care implementation plan.

Experts from various sectors, including healthcare, welfare, and public institutions, participated in the meeting and engaged in in-depth discussions on the direction of integrated care implementation and its applicability in the field.

At the meeting, various opinions were presented, including the need to expand home-visit medical services, strengthen workforce and financial support, and establish an information-sharing system. By reflecting these advisory opinions, the city was able to further refine its integrated support system, covering the entire process from identifying beneficiaries to service provision and post-management.

On March 24, the city held a manual review meeting with the Busan Social Service Center and district and county governments, comprehensively revising the Busan-style integrated care guidelines. This revision focused on ensuring that integrated care operates smoothly without confusion after the law takes effect.

The beneficiary selection system has been unified under district and county integrated support meetings, and the eligibility criteria have been expanded from households with income at or below 70 percent of the median income to those at or below 100 percent.

Additionally, the city expanded its specialized services from six to eight types, including housing environment improvements and home-based exercise programs. It has also established a service system that broadly supports daily life—such as post-discharge care support, hospital accompaniment, meals, and housekeeping assistance—and clarified the roles of service providers and administrative bodies to ensure accountable operations.

Furthermore, the city signed a business agreement with the Busan Metropolitan City Hospital Association to establish a linkage system to prevent gaps in care for discharged patients. A total of 53 hospitals with 100 or more beds are participating, enabling the identification of care needs before discharge and immediate linkage to district and county integrated care systems to provide uninterrupted healthcare, long-term care, and support services.

Through this, the city expects to reduce the “revolving door” phenomenon in which patients are repeatedly hospitalized after discharge and to establish a seamless integrated care foundation connecting hospitals and communities.

Once Busan-style integrated care is fully implemented, procedural inconveniences and service gaps previously experienced by citizens in need of care are expected to be significantly reduced.

Previously, individuals had to apply separately and receive consultations individually for healthcare, long-term care, and welfare services. In the future, consultation, application, and planning will be handled at once through integrated service windows centered at eup, myeon, and dong administrative units.

Healthcare institutions and community care systems will be linked to provide necessary services such as home visits, visiting nursing, and meal support without interruption, while coordination between public and private resources will minimize service blind spots.

Meanwhile, the city is also conducting ongoing inspections of preparedness through meetings with district and county department heads and deputy heads until just before the law takes effect.

Through these inspections, the city is closely reviewing the status of dedicated personnel assignments, operational systems, public awareness efforts, and civil complaint response readiness, while also establishing response systems to minimize potential confusion during the early stages of implementation.

Mayor Park Heong-joon stated, “The starting point of Busan-style integrated care is to ensure that even when citizens fall ill or require care, they do not have to leave their familiar homes and communities,” adding, “We have carefully prepared the system by reflecting voices from the field, and now citizens will be able to directly experience changes in their daily lives.”

He further emphasized, “We will continue to build a warm Busan that protects citizens’ lives—a city where people can receive care until the end of their lives in the place they live.”