“Ageing in Place” Policy in Japan: Association Between the Development of an Integrated Community Care System and the Number of Nursing Home Placements Under the Public Long-Term Care Insurance Program Among Municipal Governments

Abstract

In Japan, an “Integrated Community Care” model has been introduced into the public long-term care insurance (LTCI) system to help persons ageing in place. The aim of the present study was to examine the association between the development of an Integrated Community Care system and the number of nursing home placements under the LTCI program among municipal governments in Japan. Development of the Integrated Community Care system was assessed by a paper questionnaire distributed to each municipality. The annual number of elderly nursing home placements was obtained from published national statistics data over a 10-year period from 2001 to 2010. The sample consisted of 612 municipalities (35.1 % of all municipalities) that responded to the questionnaire. A multilevel linear regression analysis for panel data revealed significantly smaller annual numbers of nursing home placements per 1000 elderly persons among municipalities that had larger number of agencies joining in multiple service networks of the Integrated Community Care system. A significantly greater number of nursing home placements was also observed among municipalities that had a larger elderly population rate, lower annual number of elderly individuals in intermediate care per 1000 elderly persons, and smaller number of elderly individuals in congregate housings per 1000 elderly persons. The national “ageing in place” policy should explore a revised model of the Integrated Community Care system that is applicable for areas with limited resources.