THE ACUTE AND LONG-TERM-CARE INTERFACE - INTEGRATING THE CONTINUUM

Acute and long-term care traditionally have been distinctly different health care services, separated by reimbursement mechanisms, types and numbers of providers, and overall approach to the management of chron ic illness. Considerable effort has been made of late, primarily due t o financial incentives, to integrate these two levels of care into a ' 'seamless'' continuum. Barriers to such an integration process must fi rst be identified. Physician and other health care providers will need to develop the tools and resources necessary to manage frail, chronic ally ill patients in settings other than the traditional acute care ho spital, as well as to develop information systems that allow communica tion to flow easily between all levels of care. As subacute or transit ional care becomes a central piece of a health care delivery system, t hose tools become critical to the provision of quality, integrated car e.