Archive

Archive for the ‘Institute for Research on Public Policy (CA)’ Category

Canada — Inferior residential care for seniors linked to for-profit facilities

February 18, 2011 Comments off

Inferior residential care for seniors linked to for-profit facilities (PDF)
Source: Institute for Research on Public Policy

As the Canadian population ages, all provinces will need to expand their residential long-term care capacity to accommodate frail seniors — those who are no longer able to function independently. Conservative projections based on current trends suggest that by 2041 Canada will need 320,000 beds across the country, up from the current 200,000.

While these services are for the most part publicly funded, they are delivered by a mix of public, nonprofit and for-profit facilities. This study examines whether the type of ownership matters for the quality of care delivered.

The authors review Canadian and US research evidence on the quality of care by ownership characteristics, and consider the policy implications of this evidence. They discuss the methodological challenges associated with measuring the quality of care, and examine whether the existing research is sufficiently robust to allow us to draw conclusions on this question.

Their main conclusion is that that for-profit facilities are likely to produce inferior outcomes. While the causal link between for-profit ownership and inferior quality of care does not imply that all for-profit facilities provide poor care, the evidence suggests that, as a group, such facilities are less likely to provide good care than nonprofit or public facilities.

+ Summary (PDF)
+ Full Report (PDF)

Categories: age and aging, Gov - CA, health and health care, Institute for Research on Public Policy (CA)
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 634 other followers