Long-Term Care Options in Florida: Their Availability by County Demographics

Area of Science:

• Gerontology and Public Health
• Healthcare Access and Equity

Background:

• Older adults increasingly prefer home and community-based care over institutional settings.
• Availability of preferred long-term care options is crucial for realizing this preference.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the geographic distribution of long-term care (LTC) options in Florida.
• To determine if LTC availability is equitable across demographic groups and geographic locations.
• To analyze the relationship between county demographics and LTC availability and quality.

Main Methods:

• Exploratory study utilizing publicly available data.
• Regression analyses to assess the relationship between demographics (age, poverty) and LTC availability/quality.
• Examination of LTC options including skilled nursing, assisted living facilities (ALFs), home health, and homemaker/companion services.

Main Results:

• County-level poverty and the percentage of residents aged 65 and older were not associated with LTC availability or quality.
• Hispanic older adults had less access to nursing home beds but greater access to home health and homemaker/companion services.
• Black older adults demonstrated greater access to homemaker services; rural counties had fewer home health and homemaker/companion agencies and ALFs.

Conclusions:

• Geographic availability of LTC options is not uniformly distributed across demographic groups in Florida.
• Hispanic and Black older adults, along with rural populations, face disparities in access to specific LTC services.
• Increased availability of diverse LTC options within communities is essential for the well-being of the aging population.