INTERPROVINCIAL COMPARISONS OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE-SECTOR LONG-TERM-CARE FACILITIES FOR THE ELDERLY IN CANADA

Long-term care services for the elderly in Canada have evolved into a vast array of types of facilities, levels and types of care and organi zational arrangements, and are best characterized as operating within ten individual provincial systems. This study was undertaken in an eff ort to more fully understand the organization and financing of facilit y-based long-term care across the provinces. The wide degree of variab ility across systems renders interprovincial comparisons problematic a nd, to mitigate this, a reconciliation process was undertaken whereby facilities and beds were classified into four Categories of Care. Whil e a few general patterns emerged, the results also serve to highlight the dissimilarities between, and within, systems. The article conclude s by examining the potential value of such data to health planners and policy-makers.