A new white paper, Long-Term Care: Options in an Era of Health Reform (pdf), authored by Dr. Joshua M. Wiener for The SCAN Foundation argues that long-term care reform should be included in efforts to improve our overall health care system.

The paper examines the background and nature of long-term care, including the ways in which it differs from acute care, and then offers data (including information from two PHI fact sheets) and policy advice relating to four distinct areas: financing, service delivery, the long-term care workforce, and quality assurance.

Dr. Wiener, Senior Fellow and Program Director for Aging, Disability, and Long-Term Care at RTI International, identifies three major problems faced by the long-term care workforce:

First, it is difficult to recruit and retain long-term care workers because of low wages, limited fringe benefits, the physically demanding nature of the work, and the work environment. . . . Second, the quality of long-term care services is compromised by the vacancies, high turnover, and low levels of training of long-term care workers. . . . Third, the current labor force situation has negative implications for the quality of life of workers themselves and contributes to recruitment and retention problems.

Weiner suggests options for addressing these problems – instituting various recruitment initiatives, increasing training programs and career ladders, increasing wages and fringe benefits, and changing the organizational culture of long-term care providers — while openly examining the pros and cons of each option.

The paper was officially released on March 9 at “Long-Term Care: Exploring the Possibilities,” a forum supported by The Scan Foundation.

PHI National Policy Director Steve Edelstein says he appreciates Dr. Wiener’s contribution to the discussion. “Dr. Wiener offers an insightful analysis of the critical issues in long-term care, including the needs of the direct-care workforce, and their relation to overall health systems reform.” says Edelstein, “I hope his report helps keep these issues in the forefront as policy makers set out to address our nation’s health care needs.”

Dr. Wiener’s PowerPoint presentation, which gives a helpful breakdown of his central points, is available online at the website for the Alliance for Health Reform, as is the exhibition packet (pdf) that he provided to forum attendees.