Purpose: The purpose of this study was to suggest new direction for domiciliary care for elders provided by public institutions in rural areas. Method: The participants in the study were elders using one of 11 public health care institutions, of which 8 operated day care services exclusively, and 3 operated both day care and short-term respite care services. A survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire that included items on general characteristics of the service users, conditions of the services, personnel, financial status, facilities, and perception of the tasks of the staff. Result: The service content of the day care centers included Western and Chinese medical service, physical services, activities of ADL, nursing care services, meal services and transportation services. Domiciliary care centers provided a wide variety of health and social welfare service for elders. Personnel consisted of 3 to 8 staff for day care centers and 7 to 10 for domiciliary care centers. Both types of centers rely on financial support from local government for operation. The perception of the staff was the need for operation of these centers by public health facilities such as public health centers and sub-centers. Conclusion: The result suggest a need to activate the function of public institutions to provide domiciliary care for elders. For this new change, the role as a social support system must be developed.