The Long Term Healthcare System

As more and more elderly Americans choose to spend their later years in assisted living facilities, FRONTLINE and ProPublica examine whether this loosely regulated, multi-billion dollar industry is putting seniors at risk? Their film “Life and Death in Assisted Living” depicts different phenomenons that occurs in assisted living that America is unaware of. A testimony provided in the film describes assisted living as being “a rock that you don’t want to look under” because of the unspoken neglect and abuse of the residents in the facilities. This film focuses on the investigation and evaluation of the care provided by Emeritus’ assisted living facilities. It provides viewers with information on what makes assisted living unique, the qualifications

Current numbers show substantial growth from the eighties, and estimates suggest that the demand for long term care among the elderly will more than double in the next thirty years. (Feder, Komisar, and Niefeld) This growth will exacerbate concerns about balancing institutional and noninstitutional care, assuring quality of care, and most importantly adopting and sustaining financing mechanisms that equitably and adequately protect the elderly who need long-term care.

Our elderly population is living longer than ever before and not all of them are entering into a nursing home. They are choosing to stay in their own home or their caregiver is choosing it for them. Some caregivers are choosing to move their ageing love one in the home with them. Whatever the case may be, there is an increased need for some type of home health as it applies to the elderly population. “Medicare will pay the full cost of professional help only if the physician

The next topic to address is the growing need for long-term care in the United States. Many Americans are faced with the dilemma that there are a limited

We live in a day and age where most Canadians do not concern themselves with the odds of them being placed in a long-term care facility due to the presence of our health care system, however, a greater number of individuals should be more cogitative about the possibility of needing to be put in a home and that not being an immediate option. According to the Ontario Long Term Care Association (2015) over 40% of the long-term care homes in Ontario are small, with 96 or fewer beds. With the aging of the baby boomers within the next couple of years, 96 beds are simply not enough. The hardship of leaving the comfort of one’s home is stressful enough, without having to worry whether or not there will be open availability in the local nursing home. This report examines

While advocating for this particular policy, the draw back maybe the families being asked to care for and alter their homes to suite the lifestlye of their elderly parents and the disatisfaction that may arise from some of them for having there lives impeeded upon by caring for the aging family member or members. Another draw back may be from the long term care facilities that are already in existence, by way of those in the medical field experiencing their earning potentional impeded upon with the expantion of these types of facilities to the area. Aswell their maybe some draw back as to the quality of care these individual receive in this least restrictive enviroment, and it may also be harder to receive adequate funding because resolts

It is not easy to come up with a working definition of aging; different academics around the world defined ‘aging’ from different perspectives. Based on the collected information I have, I define aging –a multidimensional process of physiological, mental and social changes that occurred over the course of life. Though it is beyond human control, aging experiences may vary between individuals. “In the developed world, chronological time plays a paramount role. The age of 60 or 65, roughly equivalent to retirement ages in most developed countries is said to be the beginning of old age. In many parts of the developing world, chronological time has little or no importance in the meaning of old age. Other socially constructed meanings of age are more significant such as the roles assigned to older people; in some cases it is the loss of roles accompanying physical decline which is significant in defining old age. Thus, in contrast to the chronological milestones which mark life stages in the developed world, old age in many developing countries is seen to begin at the point when active contribution is no longer possible." (Gorman, 2000)

By 2036, nearly one in four Canadians will be a senior” (Stastics Canada, 2014, Demographics section, para. 3). There are widespread implications on the healthcare system, the economy, and society as a whole as “Canada’s median age is the oldest it’s ever been – 40.5 years old” (Paperny, 2015, para 2). “While Canadians older than age 65 account for less than 15 per cent of the population, they consume 45 per cent of provincial and territorial government health care dollars” (Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), 2014, p. 16). One of the most important issues for our aging population is the lack of home care in our current society. We cannot simply create more homecare, there are “complex webs and loops of cause and effect with the inherent potential for unpredictable and far-reaching consequences” (Van Beurden, Kia, Zask, Dietrich, & Rose, 2011, p. 74). We must first determine if it is necessary, then consider funding, staffing, resource allocation, implications on individual wellbeing, and long term effectiveness among other

Growth in the number of the baby-boom generation that enters old age is the main driver of increased demand for long-term care. Women are more likely to use long-term care compared to men because they live longer and often outlive their husbands. The main goal of the long-term care is to provide a variety of services that help to meet a person's health or personal care needs. In addition, the services can be provided at home, in the community, and in facilities. Most of the long-term care services are expensive; as a result, Americans spend billions of dollars out of pocket on the services. The most expensive is the facility-based care, such as assisted living and nursing homes. For example, according to the New York Times, the

Many aging Americans often struggle to pay for home care, assisted living and other forms of long term care. When choosing the right type of care much consideration and research should be given. In determining whether one must self-fund their care can be a process which can leave the door open for many unanswered questions. Questions like, what is the expected cost, will Medicare help to cover any cost, or can one use their property to pay the cost for long term care. Since elder care and senior care can be in a variety of forms, the biggest concern is who takes on the brunt of payments. According to Benjamin (2015), “99% of our services are a private pay product with some assistance for veterans; long-term care insurance does account for part of the remaining 1%, along with some waivers provided by Medicare. “Private Pay can be funded by savings and investments, long term care insurance or annuities, social security or other retirement benefits, Veterans’ benefits, and through the conversion of a life insurance policy into a Life Care Benefit Plan or Long Term Care Benefit Plan” (Orestis, 2013, para 1). Most anyone can pay or arrange their care cost, however cost is usually determined by ones need and where they live.

Before there was any type of reform, legislation those that were running these Long-Term Services were abusing and neglecting the patients they were be paid to take care of, in light of quality of life. They were giving them medications that were keep them in deep trances were they didn’t have to care for them, but could keep them in a trance like state for hours and even days at times. “Although Nursing Home Care in general has improved, problems persist in areas relevant to end-of-life care, including pressure sore, malnutrition, dehydration, pain and quality of life.” (Sarah Thompson, 2008 ) These were all serious issues that needed to be addressed and major improvements starting happening within Long-Term

In the US, LTC is financed by government (federal and state Medicaid programs and Medicare) and private sources (private insurance and out-of-pocket money) (Shi & Singh, 2015). Medicaid provides long term care payment specially for poor people and individuals with low incomes (Feder, J., Komisar, H. L., & Niefeld, M., 2000). In 2012, about two-thirds of public and private spending for LTC ($134.1 billion) was financed by Medicaid. The ACA added momentum to the trend favoring HCBS (Home and Community Based Services) by providing states expanded options for improving Medicaid access to community based LTC (Iglehart, J. K., 2016). Private out-of-pocket source was accounted for about 26 percent of LTC spending in 1998 (Feder, J., Komisar, H. L., & Niefeld, M., 2000). Many patients admitted to the

For many years, Americans have been unhappy with how the health care system works. Cost, quality, and access are the three major health care concerns. Every year, cost increases, which is not beneficial to society. Many elderly spend a lot on health care and have to pay out of pocket. Several of them have to spend their household assets on health care. The rising cost can cause the elderly not to seek for the care they need because most can’t afford it.

The financing moreover staffing of long-term will remain a major challenge. (Shi & Singh 2015) This information is intriguing as the long term care industry looks for alternatives to ensure individuals can stay where they want, as long as they want, with coordinated high-quality care. This level of care will only occur through good communication, technology, workforce supply, financial provisions and resources, as well as overhauls of regulations and the entire framework of the long-term care system. This study noted that one of the critical issues is that the scope of practice laws, workforce supply and level of training as well as payment systems will have to change in order to be able to implement what the results of their analysis have shown. However, it implies that alternatives are available to mitigate the impending shortages and surpluses in health care delivery.

The American current health care system is in the middle of big changes. With the emerging of new expensive and highly designed technologies, old and new professionals especially ones in managerial positions will need to understand the impetus for this change. Also, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is Emerging to the current health care system. ACA was approved with the goals of increasing the affordability and quality of health care insurance. It is also aiming to decrease the number of the uninsured citizens.