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Utilization Patterns of Clients Admitted or Assessed but not Admitted to a Long-term Care Program – Characteristics and Differences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2010

A. Y. Ellencweig
Affiliation:
Head, Health Management Unit, School of Public Health & Community Medicine, Hebrew University and Visiting Associate Professor, Department of Health Care & Epidemiology, University of British Columbia
N. Pagliccia
Affiliation:
Division of Health Services Research & Development, Office of the Coordinator of Health Sciences, The University of British Columbia
B. McCashin
Affiliation:
Division of Health Services Research & Development, Office of the Coordinator of Health Sciences, The University of British Columbia
A. Tourigny
Affiliation:
Research Fellow, Department of Health Care & Epidemiology, The University of British Columbia
A. J. Stark
Affiliation:
Associate Director, Health Systems Research, Health Sciences Division, International Development Research Centre, Ottawa and Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Health Care & Epidemiology, The University of British Columbia

Abstract

Clients who were either admitted to a long-term care program (N = 7251) or assessed but not admitted to the program (N = 1680) were evaluated for their utilization of health care services in 1981–82. Mean utilization values were calculated and analyses of variance were performed in order to respond to: a) whether utilization patterns of clients admitted to the program differed from patterns of clients who were not admitted; b) whether clients admitted to institutions were different from clients admitted to the program who stayed at home. The data show that among clients who were not admitted to the program utilization levels nearly tripled during the year following assessments. Among clients who were admitted to the program, hospital use decreased for facility dwellers only. The findings suggest that admission to the program can reduce health care utilization particularly if medical surveillance is provided in institutions.

Résumé

RÉSUMÉ

En 1981–82, des chercheurs ont procédé à l'evaluation de l'utilisation des services de santé parmi un groupe de participants constitué en partie de personnes admises à un programme de soins à long terme (N = 7251) et de personnes examinées mais exclues du programme (N = 1680). Les valeurs moyennes d'utilisation ont été calculées et une analyse de variance a été effectuée afin de déterminer si: a) les personnes admises au programme utilisaient le système autrement que celles qui en avaient été exclues; b) les personnes admises en institutions différaient de celles admises à un programme mais demeurant à la maison. Les résultats ont révélé que chez les personnes exclues, le taux d'utilisation avait presque triplé durant l'année suivant l'évaluation. Parmi celles qui avaient été admises au programme, le recours aux hôpitaux avait baissé mais seulement chez celles qui résidaient dans un établissement. Donc, l'admission à un programme semble avoir pour effet l'utilisation des soins médicaux, particulièrement s'il y a surveillance médicale au sein des institutions.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 1990

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Footnotes

*

This manuscript was supported by a grant from the British Columbia Health Care Research Foundation.

1

Department of Medical Ecology, School of Public Health & Community Medicine, Hadassah–Hebrew University, P.O.B. 1172, Jerusalem 91010 Israel

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