Integrated care marks 100 days as central, local governments share results and deepen cooperation

Marking 100 days since the launch of the ninth round of directly elected local governments and the introduction of the integrated care system, 16 metropolitan and provincial governments gathered Friday to share results, discuss key issues — including stronger protections for financially vulnerable households — and reinforce cooperation between central and local authorities. The Ministry of Health and Welfare said it convened the "2026 Third Central-Local Government Cooperation Conference on Health and Welfare" at the Korea Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, chaired by First Vice Minister Hyun Su-yeop and attended by welfare and health bureau directors from all 16 regional governments.

At the meeting, the ministry shared operational results from the integrated care project and outlined second-half priorities, including performance evaluations, the drafting of a master plan and regional plans for integrated care, and the construction of a second-phase IT system. It also urged local governments to ensure dedicated personnel are assigned without delay before year's end.

The 16 local governments, including the Seoul Metropolitan Government, presented regional progress and best practices, and reported their second-half plans covering staffing, education and the expansion of care services.

The ministry explained its plan to introduce a performance-based budget support framework and outlined key evaluation indicators, saying the system is designed to keep the integrated care project focused on outcomes that individuals can feel on the ground. It added that the commitment and initiative of local government heads toward integrated care would also be factored into performance assessments.

To mark the 100-day milestone, the ministry is gathering feedback on proposed system improvements from local government officials through the "Haengbok e-eum" online bulletin board.

The meeting also reviewed the current state of efforts to identify welfare blind spots.

Since 2015, the government has operated a big data-based system to identify households in welfare blind spots, detecting about 1.37 million at-risk households each year and connecting 63.9 percent of them to public or private welfare services.

The meeting analyzed local governments' 2025 performance in identifying welfare blind spots, shared standout cases and encouraged regions with lower results to step up their participation.

"Cooperation between central and local governments is absolutely essential for integrated care to take firm root on the ground, close welfare blind spots and raise the degree to which individual citizens feel the impact of policy," Hyun said at the meeting. "We will manage policy with meticulous attention to what is happening in the field and continue to pursue our work in a spirit of ongoing communication and cooperation with local governments."