The Current Status and Challenges of Korea’s Long-Term Care Evaluation System for the Elderly

Abstract

The social welfare evaluation system in Korea, including long-term care for the elderly, was introduced in 1998. As this evaluation system was an evaluation of private non-profit organizations entrusted with service provision by the government, it was an evaluation in a state where the management of service quality was secured to some extent. A new evaluation system, however, was introduced in 2009 and implemented mandatorily from 2011, as vouchers were used in the field of long-term care for the elderly due to the quasi-marketization of the services in Korea. Korea’s new long-term care evaluation system for the elderly evaluates providers who have freely entered the service market, the quality management of long-term care services for the elderly has no choice but to rely on this evaluation system. Given these circumstances, the government’s intervention and control are being strengthened in Korea’s current long-term care evaluation system, and voices of dissatisfaction with various restrictions are high in the field of long-term care for the elderly accordingly. This study critically examines Korea’s long-term care evaluation system as well as its current status and challenges based on a survey of providers of long-term care for the elderly.