The type of ownership of residential long-term care facilities for frail seniors is a determinant of the quality of care provided. Analysis comparing the US and Canadian research on the ownership and quality of services in these facilities concludes that for-profit facilities are less likely to provide quality care than nonprofit or public facilities.
The material in this report is drawn mostly from a key Canadian report, Residential Long-Term Care for Canada’s Seniors: Nonprofit, For-Profit or Does it Matter? According to report author Margaret McGregor, "[w]hile the link between for-profit facility ownership and inferior care does not imply that all for-profit facilities provide poor care, the evidence suggests that, as a group, such facilities are less likely to provide good care than nonprofit or public facilities.” The for-profit motive of generating income, through reducing staffing levels and other means, appears to often result in inferior quality of care.
Diana Gibson
Diana Gibson has worked nationally and internationally on economic and public policy issues ranging from health care to energy and trade policy. She has over 25 years of experience in social policy research and has been on faculty with Capilano College and was research director of Parkland Institute. She has authored and co-authored many publications on inequality, tax reform, and energy issues at the provincial, territorial and national levels. She is the executive director of the Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria, a co-founder and former CEO of The Firelight Group Research Cooperative, a director of PolicyLink Research and Consulting, a co-founding director of the Canadians For Tax Fairness as well as a research associate of the Canadian Centre For Policy Alternatives, and a distinguished research fellow with Parkland Institute.
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