Funding Priority 2: Policy Development
Advance realistic policy options to establish and finance a comprehensive continuum of care for seniors.
Policy makers will need financially viable policy options for long-term care reform. This is not wholly new territory. Although an array of policy options to reform the financing of long-term care has already been developed, we do not yet have some of the basic information on which to base long-term care policy, including the full extent of the need, what it would cost to meet that need, how existing long-term care dollars are being spent, and how those dollars might be used more efficiently. Additionally, work needs to be done to develop cost estimates of existing proposals, to analyze the political feasibility of various financing options, and to address delivery-system issues.
The Foundation’s goals and strategies under this second funding priority are to:
Goal 2.1: Develop realistic information on cost and financing upon which policy options for improving comprehensive long-term care can be based.
- Strategy 2.1.1: Determine the cost of addressing unmet long-term care needs and the funding available to meet those needs.
- Strategy 2.1.2: Develop affordable proposals to expand a comprehensive continuum of care for seniors, building on existing long-term care studies and the cost analyses conducted under strategy 2.1.1.
- Strategy 2.1.3: Evaluate existing long-term care legislation and regulations and develop proposals to improve such legislation and regulation.
Goal 2.2: Support policy options that create and improve a comprehensive continuum of care for seniors, including both medical and social services.
Currently, there exists a patchwork of programs, services, and providers whose availability, accessibility, and quality vary widely. Frail seniors and their caregivers often find that their first encounter with this disorganized and discontinuous array of long-term care services comes at a moment of crisis. Suddenly, they must somehow create and manage a plan of care, often with little knowledge of the services available and with minimal assistance—if any—in coordinating those services. Moreover, there is a crisis in both the quantity and the quality of the long-term care workforce that will only grow more severe as the senior population increases from 12% to 20% of the U.S. population by 2030.
- Strategy 2.2.1: Improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and availability of long-term care services that reflect the needs of seniors.
- Strategy 2.2.2: Improve the quantity, quality, and interdisciplinary approach to care delivery of the long-term care workforce, including both formal and informal caregivers.
Goal 2.3: Forge a consensus for policy reform.
The financing of long-term care has been divisive, pitting those favoring public funding against those favoring market mechanisms. While these divisions are not expected to disappear, the availability of credible, objective information about the costs and benefits of alternative models of care may improve the chances of finding common ground and reaching consensus on a viable path to long-term care reform.
- Strategy 2.3.1: Convene high-level meetings of stakeholders.