New directions in long term care. The emergence of subacute care

Health care providers are entering an era of change. While the national system of health care delivery undergoes radical reform, the demographics of the American public are changing. So are their care needs. In the wake of these changes, long term care providers are reassessing their role in the care continuum and carving out new niches to fill the diverse needs of the people they serve. Explains Paul Willging, executive vice president of the American Health Care Association (AHCA), "To solve the health care crisis and to curb spiraling health care costs, providers must participate more fully in the continuum--from providing less sophisticated to heavy skilled care." Subacute care and assisted living, relative newcomers to long term care, are likely to become mainstays of the continuum for frail and elderly Americans.