The introduction of a targeted user-pays approach to funding high-level residential aged care in Australia: an empirical investigation of the impact on price

2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 481-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Gargett

AbstractIn response to predictions that population ageing will increase government spending over the coming decades, in 1997–98, the Australian Government introduced means-tested income fees and accommodation charges for those admitted to nursing homes with income and assets above set threshold levels. Immediately prior, all residents paid the same price for their care and were not required to contribute towards the cost of their accommodation. In addition, in relation to those eligible to pay a higher price, the Government reduced its subsidisation of the cost of their care. The Government anticipated that the initiative would more equitably share the cost of age-related services across the public and private sectors, and result in some cost savings for itself. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of the policy on the average price paid by residents. The findings suggest that the policy may have contributed to an increase in the average price paid, but statistical evidence is limited due to a number of data issues. Results also indicate that the rate of increase in the price was greater after theResidential Aged Care Structural Reformpackage was introduced. The study contributes to the economic analysis of the sector by evaluating time series estimates of prices paid by residents since the early 1970s.

Author(s):  
Parinaz Motealleh ◽  
Wendy Moyle ◽  
Cindy Jones ◽  
Karine Dupre

Background: There is a paucity of evidence on the efficacy of garden design based on dementia-friendly environment (DFE) characteristics on the level of agitation, apathy, and engagement of people with dementia in residential aged care facilities (RACFs). Objective: To investigate the effect of a garden improved according to DFE characteristics on agitation, apathy, and engagement of people with dementia in one RACF. Methods: A case study design with a mixed-method approach was used. Results: There was no significant improvement in the level of participants’ agitation following visits to the improved garden, χ2(2) = 5.167, p = .076. A high level of engagement was found in participants during the intervention (Week 1-1, p < .01; Week 1-2, p < .01; Week 2, p < .01; Week 3, p < .05; and Week 4, p < .05) when compared to before intervention (Week 0). A higher level of apathy was found in participants at Week 0 when compared to during the intervention (Week 1-1, p < .05; Week 1-2, p < .01; Week 2, p < .05; Week 3, p < .01; and Week 4, p < .01). Five themes emerged from participant interviews: the presence of sensory-provoking elements in the garden, meaningful engagement in the garden, accessibility of the garden, garden impacts, and garden experiences that demonstrated the effectiveness of the garden. Conclusions: The garden promoted engagement and decreased apathy of people with dementia living in the RACF with the researcher’s partial facilitation of the intervention sessions. The qualitative findings indicated the effectiveness of the garden in reducing agitation.


2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas G Koch

Current estimates of obesity costs ignore the impact of future weight loss and gain, and may either over or underestimate economic consequences of weight loss. In light of this, I construct static and dynamic measures of medical costs associated with body mass index (BMI), to be balanced against the cost of one-time interventions. This study finds that ignoring the implications of weight loss and gain over time overstates the medical-cost savings of such interventions by an order of magnitude. When the relationship between spending and age is allowed to vary, weight-loss attempts appear to be cost-effective starting and ending with middle age. Some interventions recently proven to decrease weight may also be cost-effective.


2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-156
Author(s):  
PAUL S. REICHLER

AbstractThe Nicaragua case demonstrates the Court's competence in receiving and interpreting evidence, and in making reasoned findings of fact, even in the most complicated evidentiary context, as is often presented in cases involving use of force and armed conflict. The Court applied well-established standards for evaluating the conflicting evidence presented to it. In particular, the Court determined that greater weight should be given to statements against interest made by high-level government officials than to a state's self-serving declarations. The Court also determined that statements by disinterested witnesses with first-hand knowledge should receive greater weight than mere statements of opinion or press reports. In applying these guidelines, the Court found, correctly, that (i) the United States had used military and paramilitary force against Nicaragua both directly and indirectly, by organizing, financing, arming, and training the Contra guerrillas to attack Nicaragua; (ii) the evidence did not support a finding that the United States exercised direct control over the Contras’ day-to-day operations; and (iii) there was no evidence that Nicaragua supplied arms to guerrillas fighting against the government of El Salvador during the relevant period, or carried out an armed attack against that state. While Judge Schwebel's dissent criticized the last of these findings, in fact, the evidence fully supported the Court's conclusion. In subsequent decisions during the past 25 years, the Court has continued to rely on the approach to evidence first elaborated in the Nicaragua case and has continued to demonstrate its competence as a finder of fact, including in cases involving armed conflict (Bosnia Genocide) and complex scientific and technical issues (Pulp Mills).


Author(s):  
V. Sautkina

The following article is devoted to the study of current state of national education and healthcare systems. The cost of services in these areas constantly increases, there for even developed countries are forced to make significant efforts in order to maintain earlier achieved results. Due to this reason countries entered into the period of constant reforms with the purpose of maintaining that high level of health and educational services for all segments of population with a constant reduction of its volume of financing. The legal aspects of these changes are requiring manifestation of the will of politicians in order to overcome the opposition of parties which are defending their interests. As an example, the main opponents of the healthcare reforms proposed by Barak Obama in the USA are Republicans who are concerned about a significant increase of a state control over the entire national insurance system. The author comes to the conclusion that only joint actions of the government and every segment of population might actually improve the quality of medical and educational services.


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (s1) ◽  
pp. s140-s140
Author(s):  
Mohana Kunasekaran ◽  
Mallory Trent ◽  
Elisa Lai ◽  
HaoYi Tan ◽  
Abrar Chughtai ◽  
...  

Introduction:Influenza vaccine is recommended for high-risk populations in Australia (including those aged over 65 years) but is less effective in the elderly due to a progressive and predictable age-related decline in immune function, referred to as immunosenescence. Aged care facilities (ACF) are known to be at high risk of explosive outbreaks of influenza (even in highly vaccinated populations) and may reflect a higher intensity of transmission within the closed setting of ACF, as well as lower immunity and immunosenescence in the frail elderly.Methods:To measure the impact of influenza in aged-care staff (ACS) and residents as well as vaccine effectiveness, a prospective observational epidemiological study was conducted in collaboration with an aged-care provider with multiple sites from March to October 2018. Weekly active surveillance on influenza-like symptoms and questionnaires were used to collect data on two groups: ACS and residents. A range of variables was examined against their 2018 influenza vaccination status in statistical analysis.Results:Vaccination rates were high in residents and consistent with other studies. Vaccine rates in aged-care staff were lower and consistent with other studies.Discussion:Residents and relatives are unlikely to change their minds about vaccination from year to year unless there is targeted effort to persuade them to so, and negative perception of the vaccine is likely to persist. Workplace influenza vaccination programs targeted at staff could be an effective method of raising vaccine uptake.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 152
Author(s):  
Lina Fuad Hussien

The purpose of this study is to analyze the asymmetry in cost behavior (cost stickiness) and to identify the impact of CEOs&#39; compensation on the degree of cost stickiness behavior. The study population consists of the public shareholding companies listed on the ASE, which number (56) industrial company. Data were collected from (35) industrial companies for the period (2009 - 2019). To measure the degree of costs stickiness, The Model of Weiss (2010) was used. The Model of Weiss (2010) takes into account the costs and changes in the level of activity (sales) for the last four quarters of the company, Weiss (2010) model constructs the difference in logarithmic ratios of changes in cost. The study found that the CEO&#39;s compensation in Jordanian industrial companies consists of two forms. The companies pay fixed salaries or performance-related bonuses. The study found that the form of compensation that is paid to the CEO affects the behavior of managers. The results indicated that the performance-related rewards are accompanied by a decrease in the level of cost stickiness, and the compensation paid in the form of fixed salaries are accompanied by a high level of cost stickiness. The study recommends that companies should understand the role of the compensation form in administrative decisions, especially with regard to resource modifications, as management motives in relation to resource modifications must be taken into account because of their clear and direct impact on the cost structure of companies.


Author(s):  
Tiffany K Gill ◽  
Steve Wesselingh ◽  
Maria C Inacio

IntroductionMusculoskeletal problems, including conditions such as back pain, neck pain, rheumatoid arthritis, gout and osteoarthritis are common in the population and significant contributors to global disease burden. Age is one of the most common risk factors for musculoskeletal conditions and over 40% of older people accessing residential aged care have a musculoskeletal condition. It is not known whether individuals living in the community with musculoskeletal conditions have similar needs to those in permanent care and this is important to know in order to provide appropriate care. Objectives and ApproachThe objective of this study was to profile individuals with musculoskeletal conditions in different aged care service settings (i.e. permanent care, community care only, transition/ respite care, or no services). Specifically, we examined the concurrent chronic conditions, health risk factors and functional limitations of individuals by service setting. A cross-sectional evaluation of individuals in the National Historical Cohort of the Registry of Senior Australians (ROSA) between 2004 and 2014 was conducted. Multivariable logistic regression models estimated the factors associated with being in different aged care settings. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were determined. Results401,026 (42.5%) individuals with musculoskeletal conditions were assessed for aged care service eligibility during the study period. Of these 197,181 (49.2%) accessed permanent care, 37,003 (9.2%) accessed home care, 54,826 (13.7%) transition/respite, and 112,016 (27.9%) - no care. Individuals accessing community care compared to residential care were more likely to be female, have pain and have difficulty maintaining their home, as were individuals accessing no services compared to residential care. Conclusion / ImplicationsCompared to those in residential care, individuals with musculoskeletal conditions in the community with or without assistance had few differences related to other chronic conditions and functional limitations. But the reasons why some had support, while others did not, are unclear.


Author(s):  
Shahabuddin Mohammed Ahmed Abdullah

The traffic accidents in the high ways and towns are still increasing, their effect on the community development clearly seen. The control of this problem is highly significant. The analysis of the data and the information about the traffic accidents, their direct, indirect, a variables and continues cost represented in curing the injured, paying the Diya, the cost of the medical operations on behalf of the government and the relatives of the injured dealt with through the accounting view. This paper aimed at measuring the effect of traffic accidents in terms of money, to be use for the development of Accer province – South of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The overall cost of the traffic accidents in 2013 is 23 pillions Riyal. The percentage of the injured is 30% per family. The cost account of traffic accidents in Accer province is 1. 6 pillions Riyal. These sums of money could have been use for the development of the province. The paper recommends The direct, indirect, a variables and continues costs of the traffic accidents should give a due consideration The traffic administration should give a due consideration as well, to be minimizing the number of the traffic accidents. There should be decisive practical measures to stop these accidents.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document