Retirement News : Seniors : Ohio allowing more seniors to stay at home

Ohio allowing more seniors to stay at home

Date Added: 17-05-2005

Ohio is helping more disabled seniors receive care at home, but societal changes will force it to do more, say researchers at Miami (Ohio) University's Scripps Gerontology Center.

In a review of long-term care use in the state, researchers found a greater number of Ohioans age 60 and older have severe disabilities than 10 years ago, but fewer are in nursing homes.

The report by Robert Applebaum, Shahla Mehdizadeh and Jane Straker also forecasts a 28 percent increase in the number of seniors with severe disabilities by 2020.

Among the report major findings:

There were 172,000 Ohioans age 60 and over with severe disabilities in 2003, an increase of more than 18,000 in the past 10 years. By 2020 ,Ohio is expected to have more than 220,000 seniors with severe disabilities.
The 76,850 residents in Ohio nursing homes in 2003 was the lowest number in 10 years, down from a high of 86,700 in 1994.
The number of seniors with their nursing home stays paid by Medicaid dropped from its 10-year high of 56,000 in 1994, to 50,800 in 2003.
The number of Ohio residents paying privately for nursing homes dropped by 36 percent in the past 10 years.
Despite a decrease in the number of residents at nursing homes, nursing home occupancy rates increased slightly in 2003, rising from 83.2 percent in 2001 to 84.7 percent. This occurred because fewer beds were in service in 2003 (90,700 beds, down from a high of 99,300 in 1997).

The proportion of Medicaid recipients receiving long-term care in their residences through Ohio's Passport program increased to 31 percent by 2003 from 8 percent a decade ago.

Applebaum, professor and director of the Ohio Long-Term Care Research Project, said the state now provides more support for consumer choice in long-term care, but the aging of baby boomers mandates the development of a balanced system of care. Applebaum said the current approach to long-term care is unsustainable.

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