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Capacity Planning for Publicly Funded Community Based Long-Term Care Services

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Book cover Community-Based Operations Research

Part of the book series: International Series in Operations Research & Management Science ((ISOR,volume 167))

Abstract

Long-term care (LTC) provides medical and non-medical services to people with chronic disease or disability, many of whom are older adults eligible for receiving care through public funding sources. Annual spending on LTC in the United States exceeds $200 billion per year and is increasing rapidly. As a large portion of the population receives publicly-paid LTC, the public programs supporting LTC face increasing financial pressures. Although nursing home care has been a viable option, it is three times more costly than community-based care, which offers a flexible alternative by providing care at home and in the community. However, little is known on how much infrastructure is needed to provide such care. We showcase the potential of operations research to support decision making to improve the LTC delivery system. We formulate an optimal control problem to determine the infrastructure capacity of community-based care from a cost saving viewpoint. This example shows that methodologies of operations research can provide valuable insights in improving LTC delivery.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Medicare is an insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over, or who meet other special criteria (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, 2011). Medicaid is the United States health program for low-income, financially needy people, which is jointly funded by the state and federal governments, and is managed differently in each state (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, 2011). Generally, Medicare only pays for medically necessary skilled nursing facility or home health care (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, 2011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Feng Lin, Nan Kong & Mark Lawley

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  1. Feng Lin
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Correspondence to Feng Lin .

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  1. Dept. Public Policy & Public Affairs, University of Massachusetts, Boston, McCormack Hall, Boston, 02125-3393, Massachusetts, USA

    Michael P. Johnson

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Lin, F., Kong, N., Lawley, M. (2012). Capacity Planning for Publicly Funded Community Based Long-Term Care Services. In: Johnson, M. (eds) Community-Based Operations Research. International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, vol 167. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0806-2_12

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