By Joan B. Cole, Certified Senior Advisor 

Long-term care is the type of help people need when they are unable to care for themselves independently—when activities of daily life such as bathing, dressing, eating, transferring from one place to another and continence require assistance from another person. The need for long-term care can arise at any age due to illness or accident and usually means that the need for care will exceed 90 days.

For years, people thought long term care was delivered in a nursing home exclusively.  Today, long-term care includes a variety of services in many different settings, including community sites such as senior centers and day care centers, the care recipients’ homes, residential settings, and assisted living facilities as well as nursing homes.  Currently, 85% of long-term care is delivered in the home of the care recipient or during the day in community settings that allow the person to continue to live at home. 

Due to the increasing number of services that deliver care in home and community-based settings, the demand for services in a nursing home has been decreasing since the mid-1970’s.  This has been documented in the National Nursing Home Surveys taken between 1973 and 1999. Today, approximately 15% of long-term care is provided in a nursing home.  Home care accounts for 85% of the care provided.

This trend acknowledges the wishes and demands of those needing care to remain at home if possible.