The recent interest in “digital health” has spurred a rise in non-face-to-face services.The government has endeavored to expand the digital care infrastructure for the elderly, aiming to prevent the exacerbation of community health disparities caused by COVID-19. This study evaluates the impact of the government’s AI-IoT-based eldercare project, now in its third year. The findings suggest that the AI-IoT-based project has led to medium- and long-term improvements across all outcome measures since its implementation. When compared to face-to-face services, AI-IoT-based services are
more effective in reducing frailty. This study reveals that a combination of face-to-face and non-face-to-face eldercare services is more effective than either form alone. The AI-IoT-based project is highly relevant to the goals of national health policies. This study thus suggests an expansion in the combination of face-to-face and non-face-to-face services in health management for the elderly. For this, we also suggest improving digital literacy, establishing a social support system, enhancing digital inclusion, and making digital health policies from an equity perspective.
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