Hwaseong Special City Chosen for Gyeonggi Province's 'Integrated Care City' Project

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Jeong Jun-seong] Hwaseong Special City was selected as the final winner in Gyeonggi Province's 'Integrated Care City' project and announced on the 23rd that it will fully begin construction of the 'Hwaseong Right Neighbor Integrated Care System' linking medical care, long-term care, daily life, and housing.

This project was pursued to proactively respond to the 'Act on Integrated Support for Regional Care, including Medical and Long-term Care,' scheduled to take effect on March 27.

To this end, the city submitted its project application on January 30, and after undergoing face-to-face evaluation and expert consultation on February 13, it supplemented and advanced the implementation plan. As a result, it was selected as the final winner and secured 1.83 billion won.

Following the final selection, the city plans to establish an implementation model suited to the characteristics of an urban-rural composite city and realize 'healthy later years in the community where people lived.'

The city will provide integrated care services centered on △neighborhood visiting primary care physicians △nursing care one-stop package △daily life recovery care houses △AIP (Aging In Place) coordinators △visiting medication management, and others. Through these efforts, the city plans to establish a continuous support system with no care gaps from discharge through return to daily life.

Going forward, the city plans to select subsidiary project operators in March and April in line with the implementation schedule of the 'abbreviated Integrated Care Support Act,' and accelerate full project implementation through confirmation of detailed business plans and infrastructure construction.

Additionally, the city conducted organizational restructuring for systematic promotion of the integrated care project, newly establishing the Integrated Care Division within the Welfare Bureau for Care and reorganizing neighborhood and rural welfare teams into 'Care Teams,' transitioning to a field-centered operational system.

Director of Integrated Care Division Ji Hyun stated, "We will implement tangible integrated care so that citizens in need of care can recover and continue their daily lives in the community rather than at hospitals or facilities."