20 experts representing German and Austrian ministries and local administrations with responsibilities for long-term care, researchers and other relevant stakeholders exchanged experiences and models that are addressing challenges of information, counseling and coordination in long-term care.
Austria and Germany have been early movers by introducing specific provisions and funding for long-term care in the early 1990s. Both countries have since introduced a wide range of measures and amendments to the original legal regulations. However, information and coordination mechanisms are still suffering from piecemeal reforms, a clear division between health and social care as well as scattered responsibilities between governance levels. The presentations and debates during the workshop showed ways how different stakeholders are trying to overcome difficulties and to ensure better support to people in need of long-term care and their informal carers.
The contributions also made obvious that further research is needed to define the scope of case and care management, and its role in long-term care systems in both countries. Furthermore, it is necessary to train, recruit and retain case managers, a major challenge over the next few years. Rather than hampering pilot projects with positive evaluation from being continued and scaled up, policy-makers need to find new ways of funding and governance to put users and their carers at the centre.
