Integrated Community-Based Health and Social Care Interventions for Older People: A Key Policy Priority for All Countries; Comment on "The Effect of Integrated Care After Discharge From Hospitals on Outcomes Among Korean Older Adults"

This paper situates Woo Choi and Jung Yoo’s study within broader sets of policy challenges related to rapid increases in numbers of older people in need of long-term care. These challenges include a need to fundamentally transform health services and to develop fully integrated systems of health and long-term care for older people. The paper argues that Korea’s Integrated Pilot Project is a key step in this direction, along with similar interventions in Thailand and Brazil. Woo Choi and Jung Yoo’s study adds to a wider body of evidence that these interventions enhance health system efficiency at the same time as improving the lives of older people and their family caregivers.