TY - JOUR
T1 - Can we afford consumers choice in home care?
AU - McWilliam, Carol L.
AU - Stewart, Moira
AU - Vingilis, Evelyn
AU - Ward-Griffin, Catherine
AU - Donner, Allan
AU - Anderson, Karen
AU - Hoch, Jeffrey S
AU - Coyte, Peter
AU - Browne, Gina
PY - 2007
Y1 - 2007
N2 - As demands for home care escalate in a system concerned with cost containments, initiatives promoting client involvement in the management of their chronic illnesses and attendant services have attracted increasing attention. For longer term in-home care, varied approaches to case management reflect these trends. This article reports a study exploring the cost consequences of clients' choice of three approaches to case management within a single home care context. The first involved leaving the control of services and care to the system's case manager. The second option was to share this control in partnership with their in-home service providers. The third approach featured clients directing their own case management. Overall, the average costs per month of services for clients in the three groups did not differ significantly over 6 or more months. However, clients who chose direct involvement in their case management actually had significantly lower cost increases than clients with little control over their case management. While further investigation is needed, offering clients choice of involvement in their in-home case management may both lower costs and optimize clients' potential for involvement in their care.
AB - As demands for home care escalate in a system concerned with cost containments, initiatives promoting client involvement in the management of their chronic illnesses and attendant services have attracted increasing attention. For longer term in-home care, varied approaches to case management reflect these trends. This article reports a study exploring the cost consequences of clients' choice of three approaches to case management within a single home care context. The first involved leaving the control of services and care to the system's case manager. The second option was to share this control in partnership with their in-home service providers. The third approach featured clients directing their own case management. Overall, the average costs per month of services for clients in the three groups did not differ significantly over 6 or more months. However, clients who chose direct involvement in their case management actually had significantly lower cost increases than clients with little control over their case management. While further investigation is needed, offering clients choice of involvement in their in-home case management may both lower costs and optimize clients' potential for involvement in their care.
KW - Case management
KW - Client involvement
KW - Consumer-driven costs
KW - In-home service delivery
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=39749143909&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=39749143909&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1891/152109807782590600
DO - 10.1891/152109807782590600
M3 - Article
C2 - 18236956
AN - SCOPUS:39749143909
VL - 8
SP - 171
EP - 178
JO - The Journal of long term home health care : The PRIDE Institute journal
JF - The Journal of long term home health care : The PRIDE Institute journal
SN - 1521-0987
IS - 4
ER -