Adult Day Care Increasing In Importance In Elder Care Marketplace, WSJ Writes

Main Category: Seniors / Aging
Also Included In: Caregivers / Homecare
Article Date: 11 Jan 2008 - 5:00 PDT

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The Wall Street Journal on Thursday examined how adult day care, an "industry that began in church basements with bingo and bag lunches, is becoming an increasingly important player in the burgeoning business of elder care." The Journal reports that some people seeking elder care for their parents are "looking for relief from the care they're providing around the clock" and others "want an option that lets them go to work but is more affordable, reliable and stimulating than hiring a home health care aide."

According to estimates, demand for adult day care is growing between 5% and 15% annually, depending on location. Adult day care facilities serve about 400,000 elderly U.S. residents nationwide. The care "usually goes beyond a glorified sitter service ... offering everything from medication management and physical therapy to nursing care, exercise and grooming," and activities that "range from cognitive games for dementia patients to baking and art classes," according to the Journal.

CMS last year implemented a three-year pilot program that allows a portion of funds designated to home health care to be used for adult day care. Medicare receives a 5% discount on what it would pay for home health care, under the program. Medicare officials "say the results of its pilot program have been encouraging," and noted that one of the five Medicare pilot program locations has seen hospital readmission rates cut in half for those participating in the program, according to the Journal.

Medicaid also pays for care received at the centers, but "many elderly people have too high an income to qualify for Medicaid," the Journal reports. Sara Myers, executive director at the Washington Adult Day Services Association, said, "There's a growing demand among people who pay privately, and whose parents live with them, and who see this as a way to afford the care their parents need" (Opdyke, Wall Street Journal, 1/10).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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