Abstract
This study looked into the current conditions in Korean and Japanese care management for the elderly, cases of consumer counseling in these countries, and the supporting institutions for Japanese users regarding the use of care management for the elderly. The number of recipients of care management for the elderly in both Korea and Japan is growing every year, and more Japanese users receive various services compared to Korean users. The results of an analysis on consumer counseling regarding the use of Korean and Japanese care management revealed, two types of complaints: counseling for the improvement of the institution and complaints related to the procurement of service. Regarding the insurance system, the complaints were mostly related to affirmation of a rating and the burden incurred by cost-sharing. Regarding the use of service, such key impairment cases were related to in-service medical accidents, illegal acts including caregiver contract violations and forced retirement, careless service by workers, and human rights violations of the elderly. Japan has developed governmental and, related-administrative and business services as well as a local governmental system to redress customer impairment issues as this pertains to service for better quality care management. In addition, they have enlarged the locally closed service, provided exact information about the services offered, and improved service appraisal techniques. The Japanese cases will serve as a good reference to improve the Korean system. In particular, the construction of a system that reduces customer losses and the availability of more counseling information are urgently required to improve the system in terms of customer experiences when they seek care management.