Findings in the Area of Health and Society Reported from Erasmus University (Does Independent Needs Assessment Limit Use of Publicly Financed Long-term Care?)

2021 FEB 23 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Hospital & Nursing Home Daily -- Research findings on Health and Medicine - Health and Society are discussed in a new report. According to news reporting originating from Rotterdam, Netherlands, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “In health care the assessment of patients’ needs is typically entrusted to health care providers. By contrast, in publicly financed long-term care (LTC) needs assessment is often delegated to an independent assessor.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Erasmus University, “One rationale offered for independent needs assessment in LTC is to limit the scope for moral hazard and supplier-induced demand, which may be particularly strong in case of public LTC insurance. We study whether independent needs assessment restricts use of publicly financed LTC at the intensive margin (i.e. after people are being assessed to be eligible for receiving care). Therefore, we link nationwide Dutch administrative datasets about individual LTC use and eligibility decisions by the independent assessment agency in 2012. We find for virtually all types of care, all population subgroups, and all regions that LTC use by patients was substantially less than the maximum amount of care allowed by the independent assessor. This suggests that in the Netherlands independent needs assessment in LTC does not impose a binding constraint on use once a person is considered eligible for care. Still, independent needs assessment may have reduced LTC use at the extensive margin. A significant proportion of the applications for care (16 %) was rejected.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “In addition, the independent assessment may deter some people from applying.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Does Independent Needs Assessment Limit Use of Publicly Financed Long-term Care? Health Policy, 2021;125(1):41-46. Health Policy can be contacted at: Elsevier, Elsevier House, Brookvale Plaza, East Park Shannon, Co, Clare, 00000, Ireland. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Health Policy - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/health-policy/)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Pieter Bakx, Erasmus University, Erasmus Sch Hlth Policy & Management, Rotterdam, Netherlands. Additional authors for this research include Rudy Douven and Frederik T. Schut.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2020.09.003. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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