Hwaseong-si Awarded Best Institution for Medical Aid Case Management

Efficient Management of Long-Term Hospitalized Mental Illness Patients Through Collaboration with Mental Health Welfare Centers

Hwaseong City in Gyeonggi Province announced on the 2nd that it received the Grand Prize for Excellence at the '2024 Medical Aid Case Management Project Best Practices Contest' hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The contest was organized to discover and share best practices to strengthen the capabilities of region-led specialized projects. Hwaseong City explained that it received high scores for its medical aid specialized project titled "Management of Long-term Hospitalized Mental Illness Patients, We Are Together!"

This project considers that among the 719 long-term hospitalized medical aid recipients in the city, 28% (204 people) are mental illness patients. In cooperation with the Mental Health Welfare Center, the city provides 29 long-term hospitalized mental illness patients with ▲case management services ▲meetings for community reintegration ▲accompanied visit counseling, among other services. The city reported that through this, the number of medical aid days and medical expenses for the project recipients decreased by 16.5% and 4.1%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

Shin Hyun-joo, Director of the Welfare Bureau of Hwaseong City, said, "We will manage the necessary services for long-term hospitalized mental illness patients promptly and systematically in cooperation with the Mental Health Welfare Center," adding, "This will also contribute to stabilizing the medical aid finances."