The welfare ministry is considering requiring government-designated nursing-care firms for the elderly to disclose information about their operations, according to ministry officials.
The move is aimed at helping users select appropriate facilities and address a recent series of bogus claims made by such firms for reimbursement under the government-managed nursing-care insurance program.
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry might include the disclosure requirement in a bill it plans to submit to the Diet early next year for revising the nursing-care insurance law, with an eye to the revised law taking effect in fiscal 2006, the officials said.
As of February, some 237,800 firms were designated to offer nursing-case services to the elderly under the program.
The ministry officials said they are planning to require disclosure of general information, such as staff numbers and floor space of facilities as well as operational information to be confirmed and assessed by visiting inspectors.