The Importance of 24-hour Care in Austria

Since the introduction of the long-term care allowance in 1993, the number of recipients has been rising continuously. At present, 5 percent of the Austrian population receives long-term care allowance. In addition to the allowance, persons in need for long-term care can receive benefits in kind such as inpatient care, mobile, partial inpatient care and short-time inpatient care. Inpatient care binds 74 percent of net expenditures for benefits in kind. To reduce expenditures for inpatient care, but also to meet the wishes of people affected the Austrian Government has expanded mobile care and has established a funding model for the 24-hours care at home. The latter has been gaining increasing popularity. While there were on average 3,200 financially supported cases per month in 2008, this figure rose to 21,900 in 2015. There are indications that the 24-hours care can help to postpone inpatient care or mobile care. However, further quality enhancing measures of the 24-hours care are indispensible in order to transform it into a sustainable model of care.