Background
Buyeo is a small city with approx. 60,000 population in South Korea. Buyeo is largely populated with elders as most rural provincial cities.
Dementia has emerged as a serious health and social problem which is most feared by the elders in Korea. Dementia causes great suffering not only to the patients but also to their families resulting in enormous social costs. If proper treatment is provided after the detection of MCI(Mild Cognitive Impairment), which is the previous stage of converting to dementia, the rate of dementia can be reduced and significant social costs can be saved.
The SIB project was designed to intervene with MCI patients preventing them from becoming dementia patients.
The Buyeo SIB Project
Pan-Impact Korea designed the project, and became the intermediary of the Buyeo SIB project. The contract between Pan-Impact Korea and the Government was finalized in September, 2020. The budget to carry forward the project is 500 million won in total. The provision of service began on June, 2021.
The number of beneficiaries is 300 MCI elders aged from 60 to 80 living in Buyeo. The period of the project is 3 years, and about 10 months of intervention program is provided to each beneficiary. Before starting intervention, the elders will be pre-inspected and those who are diagnosed as MCIs can enter the program. After 10 months of service delivery, post inspection will be made to measure the result.
This SIB is an interesting case because it is the first SIB project to combine AI technology to solve the problem. AI speakers connected to the main system of a service provider are distributed to the participants and cognitive training is provided. In addition, through the AI speakers, it is possible to identify and respond to patients’ health problems or emergencies.
Below are the structure and a short summary of the Buyeo SIB project.
<The Structure of the Buyeo Demential Prevention SIB Project>
Summary of the Project
▶ Commissioner : Buyeo Local Government
▶ Intermediary : Pan-Impact Korea
▶ Investors : The Happiness Foundation, Korea Social Value and Solidarity Foundation, BPlus, Merry Year Social Company
▶ Service Providers : Mindcog, Happy Connect, Cha University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation
▶ Evaluator : Inje University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation
▶ Project Duration : 3 Years (2021 ~ 2024)
▶ Target Population : 300 MCI elders aged from 60 to 80 living in Buyeo
▶ Performance Goal : Maximum goal is to decrease dementia morbidity rate to 7.5%
▶ Predefined Target : The number of MCI patients who did not convert to dementia
▶ Investment Size : 500 Million KRW
▶ Maximum Success Payments : Investment Principal + 24% Interest