Commentary: navigating the labyrinth of long-term care: shoring up informal caregiving in a home- and community-based world.
Informal caregivers face difficulties navigating the services and funding sources that constitute long-term care. Indeed, barriers to identifying and accessing even the most basic resources compound the sense of isolation felt by millions of unpaid individuals who provide the bulk of long-term care. Though expansion of home- and community-based options is welcomed, it may also shift additional caregiving burden onto an already overburdened informal care system, especially when the intention is to delay or substitute for institutional care. This essay argues that growing government emphasis on rebalancing long-term care away from nursing homes will founder unless public officials recognize increased burdens on the informal care system.
Miller
Edward Alan
EA
A. Alfred Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions, Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912-1977, USA. edward_a_miller@brown.edu
Allen
Susan M
SM
Mor
Vincent
V
D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000458:organization & administration; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D006707:Homes for the Aged / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000458:organization & administration; D010346:Patient Care Management / Q000458:organization & administration; D011640:Public Policy