NYMC Faculty Publications
Journal Title
Frontiers in Public Health
First Page
297
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-24-2017
Department
Epidemiology and Community Health
Abstract
Objectives: The purposes of this study are: (1) to empirically identify decision-making preferences of long-term health-care use, especially informal and formal home care (FHC) service use; (2) to evaluate outcomes vs. costs based on substitutability of informal and FHC service use; and (3) to investigate health outcome disparity based on substitutability. Methodology and data: The methods of ordinary least squares, a logit model, and a bivariate probit model are used by controlling for socioeconomic, demographic, and physical/mental health factors to investigate outcomes and costs based substitutability of informal and formal health-care use. The data come from the 2013 Japanese Study of Aging and Retirement (JSTAR), which is designed by Keizai-Sangyo Kenkyu-jo, Hitotsubashi University, and the University of Tokyo. The JSTAR is a globally comparable data survey of the elderly. Results: There exists a complement relationship between the informal home care (IHC) and community-based FHC services, and the elasticity's ranges from 0.18 to 0.22. These are reasonable results, which show that unobservable factors are positively related to IHC and community-based FHC, but negatively related to nursing home (NH) services based on our bivariate probit model. Regarding health-care outcome efficiency issue, the IHC is the best one among three types of elderly care: IHC, community-based FHC, and NH services. Health improvement/outcome of elderly with the IHC is heavier concentrated on IHC services than the elderly care services by community-based FHC and NH care services. Conclusion: Policy makers need to address a diversity of health outcomes and efficiency of services based on providing services to elderly through resource allocation to the different types of long-term care. A provision of partial or full compensation for elderly care at home is recommendable and a viable option to improve their quality of lives.
Recommended Citation
Chen, C., Yamada, T., Nakashima, T., & Chiu, I. (2017). Substitution of Formal and Informal Home Care Service Use and Nursing Home Service Use: Health Outcomes, Decision-making Preferences, and Implications for a Public Health Policy. Frontiers in Public Health, 5, 297. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2017.00297
Publisher's Statement
Originally published in Frontiers in Public Health, 5, 297.https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2017.00297
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
