Running head: Assignment Questions 9

Assignment Questions 9
DeShawn Jackson
Texas Tech University

Assignment Questions 9 1. Describe 3 U.S. societal factors that increase the demand for formal long term care. The demand for long-term care will drive the future demand for professional and paraprofessional workers to provide long-term care services. The total number of Americans in need of long-term care is expected to rise from 13 million in 2000 to 27 million in 2050, an increase of over 100 percent. The most significant factor increasing demand for long-term care will be the growth of the elderly population which will rise from 8 million in 2000 to 19 million in 2050. There are likely to be considerable challenges in finding an adequate supply of workers in many occupations, particularly since the supply of workers who have traditionally worked in both the paid and unpaid long-term care workforce--women between the ages of 25 and 54 years of age--will increase only slightly. As a General Accounting Office (GAO) analysis has pointed out, this population group is expected to increase by only 9 percent from 2000 to 2050. If no sources of new workers be found, the ratio of direct care workers and the population in need of their services may change dramatically, with fewer workers available to care for more individuals. By 2050, the total number of individuals in need of long-term care services will increase to 27 million, with the aging of the baby boomer generation being the most significant factor contributing to the demand. Many people are also not prepared for the cost of long-term care, Medicare does not cover the cost of long-term care, and many people have not set aside for these costs. 2. Describe the conditions in the US during the 1970’s that led to nursing home reform legislation. For more than thirty years the quality of care in nursing homes has been a recurring matter of public concern and debate in the United States. In the 1970s and 1980s researchers presented compelling evidence that the frail and vulnerable recipients of nursing home care were too often neglected, mistreated, or abused and that the system of nursing home regulation and licensure was largely ineffectual, failing to protect residents and to prevent quality problems. In 1986 the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published an influential report that set out detailed recommendations for reforming the regulation of nursing homes, intended to bring about a major improvement in quality of care. Those recommendations were largely accepted by Congress, enacted through the Nursing Home Reform Act as part of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) of 1987, and have since been gradually implemented by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS, formerly HCFA). 3. What are the distinction between skilled nursing and residential care facilities in the U.S.? The big difference between residential care and nursing care is the level of assistance offered. If you just need a little help getting dressed or you aren’t strong enough for daily housekeeping and meal preparation, residential care handles all of that for you. If an individual needs active medical care however, nursing care provides constant medical supervision. The cost of staying in a Nursing home can cost several thousand per month or more. Some people deplete their resources on the often high cost of nursing home care.