More nursing homes embracing coordinated, home-based care

Given the push by states across the country to reduce spending on long-term care, nursing home operators are closing some facilities and shifting toward providing more coordinated home-based care (Source: “A Shift From Nursing Homes to Managed Care at Home,” New York Times, Feb. 24, 2012).

The new model calls for a team of doctors, social workers, physical and occupational therapists and other specialists to manage care for patients in their homes, adult day-care centers or through visits to specialists.

“It used to be that if you needed some kind of long-term care, the only way you could get that service was in a nursing home, with 24-hour nursing care,” said Jason A. Helgerson, the Medicaid director for New York State. “If a person can get a service like home health care or Meals on Wheels, they can stay in an apartment and thrive in that environment, and it’s a lower cost to taxpayers.” 

In Ohio, one of the health policy priorities of the Kasich administration has been efforts to expand and streamline home and community based service.