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Trends and developments in home care services: an international perspective

Article Abstract:

The growth of community and home care services in most developed countries can be attributed to cost and quality of life considerations. However, only a few needy elderly people in Europe have benefited from the delivery of home care services. Some of these delivery methods are of the case management or case mediator variety while others try to minimize the disparity between institutional and community-based services. So far, only Denmark has anticipated the importance of home care given the country's demographic and social realities.

International aspects

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Evaluation and quality assurance for in-home services

Article Abstract:

Home care programs can greatly benefit from internal evaluations. The three main classes of evaluations are formative evaluations, process or program evaluations and summative or outcome evaluations. A home care agency can also use these evaluation tools in the implementation of quality assurance methods such as Continuous Quality Improvement and Total Quality Management. Formative and process evaluations are easy to incorporate into current agency operations while outcome evaluations usually necessitate the assistance of academics.

Management, Quality control

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Clinical assessment in home care

Article Abstract:

The demand for home health care services is expected to grow substantially due to the increase in population of the elderly. There are indications that managed home care services will be implemented due to difficulties associated with entitlements and other cost-containment efforts. Qualitative and quantitative impact of home care must be considered with regards to the type of service, intensity, duration and costs. These studies will be based on systematic and comprehensive assessment conducted by trained assessors.

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