ABSTRACT

This chapter describes the longstanding and broad discussion of concepts and models of improvements, and discusses some concrete model ways of working with “integrated social and health care for older people”. It explains the lessons learned from the situation regarding “providing integrated health and social care for older persons in need of care in Germany”. In late 1999 there was a total of 184,000 persons employed in about 11,000 community care service agencies with care contracts according to long-term care insurance (LTCI). The services provided and the demand for health and social care services, when compared with the leading European countries, the northern European welfare states and the Netherlands, where around 10–20% of the elderly population take advantage of such services, are rather underdeveloped. The regulations of the LTCI Act can be characterised as a barrier, rather than an opportunity, to the integration of social and health care services for older persons.