Analysis of long-term care service system in the United States and its implications to China / 中国卫生政策研究

ABSTRACT

This paper summarizes the kinds of long term care facilities, service delivery organization, service model, service role and experience of long-term service system in the United States. It provides referral implications for China to explore and establish its own long-term care service system. . There is a variety of long-term care services such as short and long-term stay, adult day care, and home care services, with a gradual change from institutional services to home and community ones. Long-term care services are provided by paid both formal and mostly unpaid informal caregivers. Informal family caregivers are most frequently daughters (29. 3%), followed by spouses with (21. 2%). With the increased availability of the family and community-based services, the family caregivers are more likely to share long term care services with the paid formal ones. The United States has a well-structured long-term care service system whose access mechanism is rigorous and systematic, emphasizing the evaluation of service quality and effectiveness. Moreover, the U. S. long term care service system pays more attention on elders' wishes, respecting their preferences and rights of choice on the services. Based on the experience of the United States, China should primarily focuses on establishing a family and community-based long term care service system with a variety of service delivery facilities, give a full play to the community health facilities, social partners, and families. The Chi-nese government should not only give a focus to the service institutions and content diversification, but should as well establish a sound and detailed assessment and evaluation standard system to access the services and assure the effec-tiveness of service quality with a humanized concern.