Integration of Long-Term Care into the Mainstream: The Case of Nursing Homes

Award Year: 1996	Investigator: Vincent Mor, Jacqueline Zinn	Budget: $216,640	Categories: Healthcare Organization, Long-Term Care
Abstract: Few integrated delivery systems, products of the consolidation of health care delivery and financing, have focused on the role of long-term care (LTC) in general, and nursing homes in particular. Yet many nursing facilities across the nation are contracting with managed care organizations. Drs. Mor and Zinn chronicle how nursing home providers are adapting to changes in the environment and measure the effects on patient care. Their project: 1) documents the rise of integrated delivery systems that include traditional LTC providers and their influence on system policy decisions; 2) determines whether such systems accelerate differentiation of services in nursing homes (e.g., sub-acute care and rehabilitation units); 3) identifies access and quality consequences for Medicaid recipients in nursing homes; and 4) recommends options for organizing care and minimizing service delivery disruptions associated with developing Medicare/Medicaid managed care for the elderly and disabled, especially those who are poor.