Long term care is help that would be needed to perform daily activities like eating, bathing, dressing, using the bathroom, moving from bed to chair etc. Long-term care refers to all services used by people who have disabilities or chronic illness. These services go beyond medical and nursing care. Long term care is care that would be needed to help perform daily activities if one had a disability or an ongoing illness. It is chronic care that may be needed for the rest of one’s life. It is care that is not intended to cure you and is not received in a hospital. It is not acute care but chronic care that you may need for the rest of your life.

You can receive it in your own home, at a nursing home, adult day care or other assisted living facilities. 83% of long term care is provided to people in their own homes whereas only 17% is provided to people in a nursing home. Long term care is not to be confused with disability or short term medical care.

Long Term Care IS NOT:
• recovering from a surgery
• care you need in order to get well from an injury or sickness or a short rehabilitation from a surgery
• care you received in your doctor’s office or in a hospital