Measurement: the key to success for providers, payors, and patients in long-term care

The complex financing structure that supports home and community-based long-term care services has resulted in the application of different quality assurance requirements to similar services. Goals for home and community-based care are viewed differently by providers, payors, and customers. This raises the issue of how goals can be harmonized and what should be used to measure goals. Current quality assurance strategies are judge insufficient to assure the delivery of high-quality services; in part due to the state of health programs and lack of unified outcome measurement. The need for multidimensional assessment to adopt a baseline measure of health status to support allocation of services and enhance successful client outcomes has become the aim for health care providers.