Descriptive analysis of service use covered by long-term care insurance in Japan - based on population-based claims data

Nanako Tamiya,Masayo Kashiwagi,Hideto Takahashi,Haruko Noguchi

doi:10.1186/1472-6963-14-s2-p125

Abstract

Background Japan has the population with the highest proportion of aged people in the world and it rapidly continues to grow due to long life expectancy and a low birth rate, while traditional supports for elderly people are eroding. In response, the Japanese Government initiated mandatory public long-term care insurance (LTCI) in 2000. However, little has been published on the report of evaluation of LTCI with population-based data besides our previous report [1]. To make the provision of long-term care services effective, it is important for policy makers to have accurate evidence regarding the actual usage of services covered by public long-term care insurance (LTCI).

Highlights

Japan has the population with the highest proportion of aged people in the world and it rapidly continues to grow due to long life expectancy and a low birth rate, while traditional supports for elderly people are eroding
To make the provision of long-term care services effective, it is important for policy makers to have accurate evidence regarding the actual usage of services covered by public long-term care insurance (LTCI)
We evaluated the average expenditure and frequency of long-term care use covered by public LTCI and frequent patterns of services use by age, gender and care level

Summary

Background

Japan has the population with the highest proportion of aged people in the world and it rapidly continues to grow due to long life expectancy and a low birth rate, while traditional supports for elderly people are eroding. The Japanese Government initiated mandatory public long-term care insurance (LTCI) in 2000. Little has been published on the report of evaluation of LTCI with population-based data besides our previous report [1]. To make the provision of long-term care services effective, it is important for policy makers to have accurate evidence regarding the actual usage of services covered by public long-term care insurance (LTCI)

Methods

Results

Conclusions