Abstract:

The ideal of integrating long-term care with acute, community-based services and home care can be best realized by adopting a new paradigm of aging and a vision of integrated networks that focus on wellness, prevention, geriatric education and research, and integrated care delivery systems. The continuum of care concept should no longer be seen as a provider offering an array of services. Rather, the continuum should be viewed as a lifetime care plan for each individual, prepared and managed by a primary care physician and a team of health caregivers appropriate to the individual's ever-changing health care needs and desires. Long-term care organizations are challenged to accept this new paradigm and vision by integrating themselves with other health care organizations and developing information systems that support integration and improved care outcomes.