Adult day centers: geriatric day health services in the community

In the past decade, more attention has been devoted to community-based health care services for the impaired elderly. The adult day services center is one of the newer approaches to this kind of care. Adult day centers show a wide variety of services, staff, and settings, and these centers serve elderly patients with a wide variety of disabilities. Some day programs provide physical and psychosocial rehabilitative services; others offer longer term maintenance and supervision, social stimulation, and respite care. Many centers offer some combination of these services. For the family physician, this variation provides a range of health care choices and treatment options aimed at improving function and avoiding unnecessary or premature institutionalization of the elderly patient.     

A comparative analysis of short stays versus long stays in adult day health care programs

The purpose of this study is to identify challenges to continual use of adult day services. Individuals who stayed in five adult day health care programs for four weeks or less are compared to those who stayed enrolled more than four weeks. Data were gathered from new intake files recorded January 1, 1999 to December 31, 2000 at five adult day programs operating in central Ohio. This study is based on 143 clients who disenrolled during this study period. Short stay participants were significantly different from long stay participants in race, educational level, mental health, and in financial and social resources. The findings support the important partnerships between informal and formal care resources in the utilization of adult day services and ultimately community-based living.     

States' responses to Title II of the Ryan White CARE Act.

Title II of the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act of 1990 provides formula-based grants to States to help them improve the quality, availability, and organization of health care and support services for people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. This article reviews State expenditures during the first year of CARE Act funding (April 1991-March 1992) within the context of Title II guidelines and the federally funded grant programs that preceded and helped shape Title II. The authors also discuss future challenges that require development of resources, the assessment of program impact, and the evaluation of the quality and appropriateness of HIV-related services. Ninety-one percent of the $77.5 million awarded to States during fiscal year 1991 went for the provision of medical and support services through HIV care consortia, drug reimbursement programs, home and community-based care programs, and health insurance initiatives. The remaining monies were used for planning, evaluation, and program administration. Forty States allocated $38.9 million for the establishment of HIV care consortia to assess service needs and to develop comprehensive continuums of health and support services in the areas most affected by HIV disease. Fifty States allocated an additional $28.3 million for the continuation or expansion of FDA-approved drug therapies for low-income people with HIV infection. Twenty-five States allocated $2.2 million for the provision of home- and community-based health services, and 16 States allocated $1.3 million for programs that help low-income people with HIV infection to purchase or maintain health insurance coverage.     

Turning the tide: preserving community mental health services

As part of its continuing mission to serve trustees and staff of health foundations and corporate giving programs, Grantmakers In Health (GIH) convened a group of experts from the fields of philanthropy, research, government, and health care on September 19, 2002 to examine the status of community-based services for people with mental disorders. This Issue Dialogue, "Turning the Tide: Preserving Community Mental Health Services," explored how health grantmakers can support community programs that provide critical mental health intervention and treatment services to children and adults. This Issue Brief synthesizes key points from the day's discussion with a background paper previously prepared for Issue Dialogue participants. It includes quantitative and qualitative information on mental health, as well as profiles of public sector, private sector, and grantmaker strategies for promoting improvements.     

美国长期照护服务体系对中国的启示

本文综述了美国长期照护服务体系的服务机构、服务方式和服务提供者及其角色。美国长期照护服务机构可提供长期入住照护、短期入住照护、成人日间照护及居家照护服务,服务方式逐渐从机构服务向居家与社区服务转变。长期照护服务由正式照料者和非正式照料者共同提供,正式照料者提供有偿服务,非正式家庭照料者以女儿(29.3%)和配偶(21.2%)为主,随着居家和社区服务可用性增加,家庭照料者与有偿的正式照料者分担长期照护的可能性更大。美国长期照护服务体系结构完善,准入机制严格且系统,强调服务质量和效果评价,且重视老年人个人意愿,尊重其服务偏好和选择权利。基于美国的经验,我国在探索长期照护服务体系时,应以居家和社区照护为主,充分发挥社区卫生服务机构、社会和家庭的力量,注重服务机构和内容的多样化,建立完善和详细的服务使用评估标准,强调服务质量的有效性评价,体现人性化。     

Health care needs of Hispanic Americans and the responsiveness of the health care system

The Hispanic population in the United States is growing rapidly but this population has many health care needs that are not being met. The findings from recent research on the current health status of Hispanic people who live in the United States are presented. An assessment of how accessible and available medical care services are to Hispanic people is made. Serious gaps exist in the delivery of medical care services to this group. Human service providers, particularly social workers, can help make the current health care system more responsive to the needs of this group by helping Hispanic individuals who have no health insurance coverage to find employment that includes health insurance benefits or some other form of insurance, by establishing community-based health care centers in Hispanic communities, by developing counseling programs tailored to the alcohol and drug abuse problems of the Hispanic population, and by advocating for government agencies to improve existing sources of data on the health of this group.     

Should Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly Use Community-Based Primary Care Physicians?

The program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) is a community-based, long-term care model designed for older adults that are nursing home eligible. Bound by original design and regulations, these programs have primarily utilized a center-based ("staff") primary care physician model. However, some believe that this might hinder expansion of the PACE model. In response to this concern, three PACE programs have explored the use of "community-based" primary care physicians (CBPCPs). In an attempt to evaluate the impact of this variation in the model, we surveyed the medical director, 2 community-based primary care physicians and 6 non-physician staff members at one of these sites. Responders generally support the use of CBPCPs as a useful and productive alternative way to expand PACE services to a wider audience of eligible patients. Because some staff members perceive that CBPCPs utilize hospital and NH services at a higher rate, continued education of both CBPCPs and staff members regarding the expectations from this relationship is needed.     

THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON WAMI PROGRAM: 25 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE WITH MANPOWER SHORTAGES IN RURAL AREAS

ABSTRACT: The University of Washington is the only United States medical school serving the health care education needs of Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho (WAMI) and has evolved a unique set of partnerships to address this predominantly rural region of the United States. Three specific aspects of this program are relevant to Australia's rural health needs: (i) 'pipeline' efforts that groom rural and minority students long before medical school in order to keep them in the potential applicant pool; (ii) a decentralized medical school curriculum that provides repetitive training opportunities in rural and community-based settings; and (Hi) special residency rotations, physician assistant programs and rural hospital support all of which train and maintain health care providers in rural remote settings.     

From activated patient to pacified activist: a study of the self-care movement in the United States

Self-care education programs in operation in the United States during the mid-1980s are surveyed by mailed questionnaire to determine the nature and content of the curricula of these programs, their organizational sponsorship, the level and types of staff working in them, and their principal prevention emphases. Results indicate that over 75% of these programs offer instruction or sponsored activities intended to help individuals or their families to: (1) increase wellness or health status through lifestyle change; (2) reduce an established risk factor; and/or (3) prevent the onset of illness or injury. Fifty-five percent of the organizations offering these services classified themselves as health services delivery organizations. A surprising finding, given the American popular media treatment of self-care as a 'movement', is that relatively few laypersons function as instructors in these programs. The paper describes the way in which self-care has been absorbed into the mainstream of American health care, even though the concept of self-care has tended to drop from scholarly attention in the socio-medical sciences in the United States.     

A preliminary comparison between local public health units in the Canadian Province of Ontario and in the United States.

This comparison between public health departments in the United States and in the Canadian Province of Ontario addresses the funding and staffing and the size and program content of local health departments after Canada''s national health reform provided universal access to personal health services. Ontario''s local health departments are required to provide a uniform set of public health services. In the United States, there is substantial variation among jurisdictions in kinds and amounts of services delivered. Ontario health units have staff sizes and budget levels that increase in proportion to population served, like those in the United States. But in Ontario, per capita expenditures increase with decreasing population, while the reverse is true in the United States. This anomaly may be attributed to lack of critical staff or elimination of key programs in small U.S. departments. Medical care of indigents probably accounts for the increased per capita costs seen in very large U.S. health departments. An estimated price for uniform public health services meeting the Ontario requirements in all U.S. jurisdictions as they were organized in 1989 is $5.8 billion per annum (not adjusted for inflation). If smaller health departments were consolidated, a savings of more than $1 billion could be realized. Even with this reorganization, average expenditures in smaller U.S. health departments would need to be doubled, and staff sizes increased by about 50 percent to meet Ontario''s uniform public health program standards.     

Culturally sensitive collaborative care models: exploration of a community-based health center

This qualitative focus group (FG) study describes an interdisciplinary health care team's collaboration while serving an underprivileged patient population. Collaboration was explored with diverse personnel from support staff to upper administration at a nurse-managed community-based health center in the northeastern region of the United States. Biopsychosocial theory and a feminist ecological framework were used to explore how multiple contextual variables of patients and their providers influence the collaborative process of 39 staff. Content analysis revealed facilitators and barriers to collaboration. Providers' perceptions of care revealed a patient-centered approach with serendipitous family and community involvement. Recognized challenges included the need to improve family and community involvement, develop ongoing cultural sensitivity training for staff at the center, and hire more providers who match the ethnic and racial makeup of the center's clientele.     

Rethinking prevention in primary care: applying the chronic care model to address health risk behaviors

This study examines the Chronic Care Model (CCM) as a framework for preventing health risk behaviors such as tobacco use, risky drinking, unhealthy dietary patterns, and physical inactivity. Data were obtained from primary care practices participating in a national health promotion initiative sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Practices owned by a hospital health system and exhibiting a culture of quality improvement were more likely to offer recommended services such as health risk assessment, behavioral counseling, and referral to community-based programs. Practices that had a multispecialty physician staff and staff dieticians, decision support in the form of point-of-care reminders and clinical staff meetings, and clinical information systems such as electronic medical records were also more likely to offer recommended services. Adaptation of the CCM for preventive purposes may offer a useful framework for addressing important health risk behaviors.     

The AIDS crisis: a United States health care perspective

The unanticipated onset of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome in the United States, followed by its gradual progression into a full-blown, uncontrollable epidemic, has had severe economic and organizational consequences for the American health care system. AIDS has taken its toll on the health workforce as well in terms of stress, anxiety and workload demands. In the absence of adequate community-based treatment and care resources for persons with AIDS, hospitals had to assume the major burden for providing basic medical care and developing the needed range of services required. This expansion of responsibilities strained hospitals and other health care agencies beyond their capabilities. Some hospitals have faced economic and allocation dilemmas because of high occupancy rates by AIDS patients since there are no specialized reimbursement rates for the intensive resource utilization required for their care. These substantial burdens underscored the need for coordinated long-term planning for a continuum of in-patient, out-patient and community support services. A major response to the epidemic has been a restructuring of the health and social service delivery systems. Hospitals have had to maintain patients beyond their need for an acute level of care, develop infrastructures to manage the increasing numbers of patients, alter physical facilities, provide educational programs and support groups to increase staff's knowledge and decrease fears of AIDS, consider alternatives to in-patient medical management, and lobby with local, state and federal governments to obtain increased public monies for AIDS treatment and care. In the past year, there has been a discernible shift to widening the network of ambulatory medical services and community-based social and health care supports. A major focus of this paper is the social and organizational impact of this epidemic on the hospital and health care system and the systems' responses. Alternatives to an acute care treatment locus for persons with AIDS are explored. Recommendations for future directions for a comprehensive, coordinated health and social services delivery network are presented.     

ADS (adult day services) centers test a new data set to improve care

The adult day services (ADS) center is an approach to the treatment of adults whose ability to live independently is threatened or impaired. In practice, it can be referred to by many names, including adult day support centers, adult day health care, medical day care, day treatment, and Alzheimer's day care programs. As a model of care, the ADS concept has taken on many different "flavors" as far as the mix of services it offers in response to community-level needs, which is not an altogether good thing. An assessment tool that will enable performance measurement and help establish bench-marks for ADS centers is now being field-tested.     

Community-based post-stroke service provision and challenges: a national survey of managers and inter-disciplinary healthcare staff in Ireland

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The extent of stroke-related disability typically becomes most apparent after patient discharge to the community. Maximising rehabilitation input at this point can minimise the impact of disability. As part of the Irish National Audit of Stroke Care (INASC), a national survey of community-based allied health professionals and public health nurses was conducted. The aim was to document the challenges to service availability for patients with stroke in the community and to identify priorities for service improvement. METHODS: The study was a cross-sectional tailored interview survey with key managerial and service delivery staff. As comprehensive listings of community-based health professionals involved in stroke care were not available, a cascade approach to information gathering was adopted. Representative regional managers for services incorporating stroke care (N=7) and disciplinary allied health professional and public health nurse managers (N=25) were interviewed (94% response rate). RESULTS: Results indicated a lack of formal, structured community-based services for stroke, with no designated clinical posts for stroke care across disciplines nationally. There was significant regional variation in availability of allied health professionals. Considerable inequity was identified in patient access to stroke services, with greater access, where available, for older patients (>65 years). The absence of a stroke strategy and stroke prevalence statistics were identified as significant impediments to service planning, alongside organisational barriers limiting the recruitment of additional allied health professional staff, and lack of sharing of discipline-specific information on patients. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlighted major gaps in the provision of inter-disciplinary team community-based services for people with stroke in one country. Where services existed, they were generic in nature, rarely inter-disciplinary in function and deficient in input from salient disciplines. Challenges to optimal care included the need for strategic planning; increased funding of healthcare staff; increased team resources and teamwork; and removal of service provision barriers based on age. There were notably many challenges beyond funding. Similar evaluations in other healthcare systems would serve to provide comparative lessons to serve to tackle this underserved aspect of care for patients with stroke and their families.     

Elderly care: similarities and solutions in Denmark and the United States

Denmark, like the United States and other developed countries, is experiencing an increase in the percentage of dependent elderly in its population. They consume a disproportionate share of health and social services at a time when government is attempting to contain costs. Both countries face similar problems in caring for the elderly--problems of escalating hospital costs, dramatically increased nursing home costs, and insufficient public revenues to cover their entire care. Denmark has developed a wide range of services for the elderly--home help, home nursing, adult day care centers, day nursing homes, and sheltered housing. The response in the United States has taken somewhat different directions, although in both countries home and community services have been expanded as a substitute for expensive institutional care. The possible relevance of the U.S. experience in these areas to Denmark and lessons that the United States might learn from the Scandinavian country are discussed.     

Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior: Food and Nutrition Programs for Community-Residing Older Adults

Given the increasing number and diversity of older adults and the transformation of health care services in the United States, it is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior that all older adults should have access to evidence-based food and nutrition programs that ensure the availability of safe and adequate food to promote optimal nutrition, health, functionality, and quality of life. Registered dietitian nutritionists and nutrition and dietetics technicians, registered, in partnership with other practitioners and nutrition educators, should be actively involved in programs that provide coordinated services between the community and health care systems that include regular monitoring and evaluation of programming outcomes. The rapidly growing older population, increased demand for integrated continuous support systems, and rising cost of health care underscore the need for these programs. Programs must include food assistance and meal programs, nutritional screening and assessment, nutrition education, medical nutrition therapy, monitoring, evaluation, and documentation of evidence-based outcomes. Coordination with long-term care services and support systems is necessary to allow older adults to remain in their homes; improve or maintain their health and manage chronic disease; better navigate transitions of care; and reduce avoidable hospital, acute, or long-term care facility admissions. Funding of these programs requires evidence of their effectiveness, especially regarding health, functionality, and health care–related outcomes of interest to individuals, caregivers, payers, and policy makers. Targeting of food and nutrition programs involves addressing unmet needs for services, particularly among those at high risk for poor nutrition. Registered dietitian nutritionists and nutrition and dietetics technicians, registered must increase programmatic efforts to measure outcomes to evaluate community-based food and nutrition services.Position StatementIt is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior that older adults should have access to evidence-based food and nutrition programs that ensure the availability of safe and adequate food to promote optimal nutrition, health, functionality, and quality of life. Registered dietitian nutritionists and nutrition and dietetics technicians, registered, in partnership with other practitioners and nutrition educators, should be actively involved in programs that provide coordinated services between the community and health care systems that include regular monitoring and evaluation of programming outcomes. The rapidly growing older population, increased demand for integrated continuous support systems, and rising cost of health care underscore the need for these programs.