The Academy supports the development of a federal policy for long-term care, including respite care, nursing home care and home health care, which includes but is not limited to the following characteristics:
- The need for the care should be verified by a physician;
- The care should be under a case management system, with family physicians given the opportunity to coordinate or provide care;
- Peer Review Organizations or approved state utilization review organizations should review medical care for quality assurance;
- The evaluation of the patient should be physician directed;
- The measure providing expansion of benefits should include a provision addressing spousal impoverishment;
- Eligibility for the assistance should be based on a functional/cognitive capacity assessment rather than diagnosis;
- The policy should include both public and private financing; and
- Physician visits to residents in long-term care facilities should be paid based on the appropriateness of service rather than mandated federal guidelines.
(1988) (July 2023 BOD)