Who pays for adult day center services? "About 51 percent is paid by Medicaid and other public funds, 47 percent is paid directly by the families, and less than 1 percent is covered by long term care insurance," Cox said.

Cox said the availability of adult day services has been expanding rapidly, "with 26 percent of all adult day centers opening in the past five years."

She said some existing adult day centers are not fully utilized, pointing to the need for public awareness campaigns in those communities.

But at the same time, the national need is growing both because of the projected increase in the number of disabled elderly people and also because centers are now also serving younger people who have chronic conditions such as mental retardation, physical disabilities or chronic mental illness. Partners in Caregiving is headquartered at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and is a national adult day services resource center. Supported by a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant, the program was developed to stimulate additional adult day centers in the country. That program was started after the Dementia Care and Respite Services Program -- headquartered at Wake Forest and supported by a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant -- demonstrated that such centers were viable and could be self-sufficient.

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Contact: Robert Conn
rconn@wfubmc.edu
336-716-4587
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center
15-Mar-2003