Phillips-Harris C, Fanale J E
Geriatric Services, Sutter Health, Sacramento, California, USA.
Clin Geriatr Med. 1995 Aug;11(3):481-501.
Acute and long-term care traditionally have been distinctly different health care services, separated by reimbursement mechanisms, types and numbers of providers, and overall approach to the management of chronic illness. Considerable effort has been made of late, primarily due to financial incentives, to integrate these two levels of care into a "seamless" continuum. Barriers to such an integration process must first be identified. Physician and other health care providers will need to develop the tools and resources necessary to manage frail, chronically ill patients in settings other than the traditional acute care hospital, as well as to develop information systems that allow communication to flow easily between all levels of care. As subacute or transitional care becomes a central piece of a health care delivery system, those tools become critical to the provision of quality, integrated care.
传统上，急性护理和长期护理是截然不同的医疗服务，在报销机制、提供者的类型和数量以及慢性病管理的整体方法上都存在差异。近来，主要由于经济激励措施，人们付出了相当大的努力，将这两个护理层面整合为一个“无缝”的连续统一体。必须首先识别这种整合过程中的障碍。医生和其他医疗服务提供者将需要开发必要的工具和资源，以便在传统急性护理医院以外的环境中管理体弱的慢性病患者，同时还需要开发信息系统，使各级护理之间能够轻松实现沟通。随着亚急性或过渡性护理成为医疗服务提供系统的核心组成部分，这些工具对于提供高质量的综合护理至关重要。
