A data-based system incorporating digital technology was the strategy to cope with the increasing demand for elderly care services adopted by Japan, which has entered a superaged society.

Based on this system, Japan provides quality care services and seeks to increase work efficiency at nursing homes.

Such was the conclusion of the report “Status of data-based nursing service introduction in Japan,” released by the Korea Insurance Research Institute (KIRI) on Tuesday. According to the report, 18.1 percent of the population will be older adults, and about 320,000 nursing workers will be lacking in Japan in 2025 when the country’s first-generation baby boomers enter the late elderly stage.

To meet the consequent increase in the demand for elderly care services and serious manpower shortage, Japan is rapidly grafting digital technology to the nursing care industry under the government's initiative, according to the report.

Japan’s Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Labor is conducting an “ICT introduction support project” to promote the use of information-communication technology by providing software, IT equipment, and the operating expenses required to introduce ICT to nursing facilities.

The ministry is also preparing economic incentives by revising payment rules to encourage nursing to use new technology, such as artificial intelligence, the internet of things, and robotics. In addition, it is providing subsidies for their purchase of up-to-date devices as part of the policy to “subsidize the introduction of robots to care for people who cannot manage their daily lives due to physical disabilities or diseases, severe aftereffects.”

In addition to these policies, as private businesses’ digital conversion speeds up, Japan’s investment into digital conversion (DX) related to medical and care services is expected to increase from 731 million yen (7.18 billion won or $5.47 million) in 2020 to 211.5 billion yen (2.07 trillion won or $1.61 billion) in 2030.

Besides, the Japanese government is stabling “LIFE (Long-term care Information system For Evidence),” a data-based program to resolve the nursing workforce shortage.

Under the system, nursing facilities register the contents of services they provide for residents or various information on the resident’s physical and mental status, including activities for daily living (ADL), nutrition, and oral conditions, with LIFE, and the ministry provides feedback on nursing results using the accumulated database.

To promote LIFE, the ministry introduced an incentive system for scientific care service by revising the Care Insurance Act in 2021, providing incentives by paying additional reimbursement on the condition of data input and feedback data use.

From next month, the ministry also plans to introduce a “care plan and data linkage system” to help ease the workload at nursing facilities and enhance their work efficiency. The ministry expects the new system to save about 800,000 yen a year by cutting the cost of labor, printing, and transport.

Encourages private sector’s participation to resolve manpower shortage

In addition, the Japanese government is encouraging private businesses’ participation in the nursing care market to meet the increasing demand for caring for older adults.

In a positive response to the government’s initiative, insurance companies and other private businesses that have already entered the market are releasing data-based care services. A case in point is “SOMPO Care,” established by Sompo Holdings, a large-scale nonlife insurer, in 2018.

In the paid senior citizens’ home run by SOMPO Care, “Unibo,” a robot equipped with facial recognition technology, checks the residents’ entries and exists and opens the gate. These robots also notify operators of the residents’ conditions through motion and sleep sensors, helping to ease the staff’s workload.

In addition, the company is also pushing for RDP (Real Data Platform) business, which develops and provides new solutions using various data on older adults’ sleep and various other daily activities secured from their nursing operation. It also plans to install a partnership function with LIFE established by the Japanese government.

Panasonic Age Free, set up by Panasonic in 2016 by integrating nursing service subsidiaries, has also established the 'self-support nursing platform project' through data linkage in collaboration with Polaris, which operates welfare facilities for the elderly.

Utilizing Polaris' know-how to support the independence of the elderly and Panasonic's IoT and AI technologies, it has developed an evaluation system that can identify the condition of the elderly in a remote environment, providing personalized healthcare by analyzing the health status of the elderly.

“To cope with the growing demand for nursing services and the shortage of care workers, Japan is applying digital technology to the nursing industry under the government’s initiative,” the report said. “By establishing a data-based system, the neighboring country is providing high-quality nursing services and promoting work efficiency.”