The Long-Term Care Services Act (LCSA) includes seven chapters and 66 articles. Its content consists of five major elements: coverage of long-term care service, sources of finance, regulation of personnel and institutions, protection of the care recipients’ rights, and incentive measures for further development. Its major structure is as follows:
Specify the content of each major long-term care plan, including: home-based, community-based, institutionalized, and integrated cares.
Specify the professional requirements for the long-term care personnel.
Specify the financial resources for long-term care service and establish funds reserved for it, in order to promote the development of long-term care service, enhance the quality and efficiency of the service, and consolidate its human resources.
Employers can request supplementary training for first-time family caregivers from foreign countries.
Include family caregivers into the service.
The LCSA authorizes one set of laws and eight regulations and orders in total: Enforcement Rules for LCSA, Regulations for Accreditation of Long-Term Care Institutions, Regulations for Continuing Education and Registration for Training Certification of Long-Term Care Personnel, Regulations Governing Awards and Grants for Development of Long-Term Care Resources, Establishment Standards for Long-Term Care Institutions, Regulations Governing Permission and Management of Long-Term Care Institutions, Regulations Governing Inspection of Applications for Rental of State-Owned Non-Public Properties by Long-Term Care Institutions, and Regulations Governing Supplementary Training System for Foreign Family Caregivers.
Continued Operation of Existing Long-Term Care Institutions
Although existing nursing homes and charity organizations for senior citizens and the disabled that have been providing community-based or institutional services can continue operating under current laws, the government offers them the option of a simplified application and waives the requirement for another authorization, should any of them plan to transition into a long-term care institution. Existing day-care centers are also included in the beneficiaries of this simplified procedure. Considering the differences between regions, the application and recognition of long-term care institutions in aboriginal regions can follow the more adaptive special-case protocol under the newly enforced act.
In response to concerns previously expressed from various sectors about the Establishment Standards for Long-Term Care Institutions and Regulations Governing Permission and Management of Long-Term Care Institutions, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced the standard requirements for establishment of a long-term care institution, the standard protocol for its application, and consistent regulations for its subsequent management to serve as references for interested private organizations. Criteria for smaller-scale multifunctional nursing homes were also included.
Protection of Current Care Recipients’ Rights
In the future, all long-term care personnel are required to complete certain training sessions, receive corresponding certificates, and register at long-term care institutions before they can start providing service. In addition, to protect the rights of care recipients, such personnel are required to complete at least 120 points of continuing education every six years. To ensure the quality of care provided by foreign caregivers, employers can judge if there is a need for additional training and request supplementary training for them accordingly.
Enhancing the Overall Development of Community-Based Care Services
To encourage more private organizations to participate, state-owned non-public properties are available for nonprofit or charity organizations engaging in long-term care services to rent at a discounted rate in accordance with the Regulations Governing Inspection of Applications for Rental of State-Owned Non-Public Properties by Long-Term Care Institutions.
Adhering to the principle of equal participation from government and private organizations, the Ministry of Health and Welfare held over a hundred meetings with several local government agencies and private organizations to devise the appropriate procedures and regulations under LCSA. After the regulations were passed following standard procedures as planned, they have become effective starting today (June 3). Director of the Department of Nursing and Health Care Tsai, Shu-feng stated that current long-term care institutions can continue operating as before, only with better protection of the care recipients’ rights and enhancement of the 2.0 community-based long-term care system.