Long-term care

Long-term care (LTC) is a variety of services which help meet both the medical and non-medical needs of people with a chronic illness or disability who cannot care for themselves for long periods.

It is common for long-term care to provide custodial and non-skilled care, such as assisting with normal daily tasks like dressing, feeding, using the bathroom. Increasingly, long-term care involves providing a level of medical care that requires the expertise of skilled practitioners to address the multiple chronic conditions associated with older populations. Long-term care can be provided at home, in the community, in assisted living facilities or in nursing homes. Long-term care may be needed by people of any age, although it is a more common need for senior citizens.

Long-term care can be provided formally or informally. Facilities that offer formal LTC services typically provide living accommodation for people who require on-site delivery of around-the-clock supervised care, including professional health services, personal care, and services such as meals, laundry and housekeeping. These facilities may go under various names, such as nursing home, personal care facility, residential continuing care facility, etc. and are operated by different providers.

While the government has been asked with the LTC (Long term care) industry not to bundle health, personal care, and services (e.g., meal, laundry, housekeeping) into large facilities, the US government continues to approve that as the primary use of taxpayers' funds instead (e.g., new assisted living). Greater success has been achieved in areas such as supported housing which may still utilize older housing complexes or buildings, or may have been part of new federal-state initiatives in the 2000s.

Long-term care provided formally in the home, also known as home health care, can incorporate a wide range of clinical services (e.g. nursing, drug therapy, physical therapy) and other activities such as physical construction (e.g. installing hydraulic lifts, renovating bathrooms and kitchens). These services are usually ordered by a physician or other professional. Depending on the country and nature of the health and social care system, some of the costs of these services may be covered by health insurance or long-term care insurance.

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