HFMA NEWS

Adequate financing for long-term care, improving the quality of long-term care services, and developing an adequate, skilled workforce are some of the urgent challenges facing long-term care in the future, say four of five respondents to the latest Commonwealth Fund/Modern Healthcare Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey. Nearly four of five (79 percent) respondents favor or strongly favor adding a long-term care benefit to Medicare, financed by a premium, to pay for care.

More than two-thirds (69 percent) of respondents to the survey believe it is very important (41 percent) or important (28 percent) that the health reform plans of the presidential candidates address the quality and financing of long-term care. Opinion leaders surveyed include experts from four broad healthcare sectors: academia and research organizations; healthcare delivery; business, insurance, and other health industry; and government and advocacy groups. Elected officials and media representatives were excluded.

A majority of healthcare opinion leaders say that long-term care costs should be shared by individuals and the government (55 percent), while 26 percent say costs should be shared by individuals, employers, and the government. Read the data brief.

Almost two-thirds of global health leaders surveyed by the Health Research Institute of PricewaterhouseCoopers thought the performance of their country’s health system was good or very good. However, less than 40 percent gave the payment system a grade of good or better. Those findings are among many others outlined in the new report You Get What You Pay For: A Global Look at Balancing Demand, Quality, and Efficiency in Healthcare Payment Reform.

To better understand how to structure payment incentives and to learn what other countries are doing, the Health Research Institute of PricewaterhouseCoopers conducted more than 30 in-depth interviews with leaders representing hospitals, government organizations, and the business community in more than 10 countries and conducted a global survey of more than 200 healthcare executives from 20 countries. The report provides a global perspective on the problems nations face and the solutions that are being implemented in response.