Question

What incentives are there, if any, for individual long-term care providers or groups of providers to think in terms of the overall system when focusing on quality?

Answer 1

Ans)Long-term care is best described as:

- Services provided in both home and institutional settings for persons of all ages with varying levels of medical, social, and personal care needs.

- Long term care needs of older, chronically ill Americans pose a particular delivery system challenge because:Neither Medicare nor private insurance support ongoing, non-acute services.

- Effect that government regulations had on the financing of long term care:

• Medicaid (safety net) and Medicare (age dependent)
• Nursing homes built - using Medicare
• Money, they were paying - used well - specific requirements
• All about reimbursements
• Now - cost is high and the government is not really helping
• Costly for providers

- Components of accessibility to long-term care services:

- Availability of service
- Financial coverage
- Physical logistics (location, style)
- Need a full continuum of services
- Long-term care has a variety of ages- not just the elderly- patients getting younger

- Some incentives that might encourage consumers to use the long-term care system more effectively and efficiently are:

- More flexibility in regulations
- Required stay in acute care
o Unnecessary use of expensive care
- Better support for informal caregivers
- Tax breaks for insurance coverage
- Fraud and abuse carefully- 40 cents