The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (DPW) has asked a research team at Penn State Harrisburg to develop and implement a plan to explore issues related to current and projected participation in long-term care services.

Through a $1.65 million DPW grant – one of the largest ever awarded to Penn State Harrisburg and its Institute of State and Regional Affairs – the team of faculty and staff researchers will assess the current and projected future need for long-term care services in Pennsylvania and the associated cost of service delivery in the coming years.

Associate Professor of Health Care Administration and Policy Cynthia Mara is the principal investigator for the effort and Michael Behney, director of the Institute of State and Regional Affairs, is serving as project director. Associate Professor of Managerial Economics and Statistics Jacob De Rooy is co-principal investigator with assistance coming from the applied research centers in the institute.

The research, which will cover 18 months through June 2008, includes six objectives:

• Production of detailed state population projections by age, sex, and race;
• Documentation of social, cultural, and other factors in the long-term care environment that affect demand;
• Gauging of consumer choice factors relating to long-term care services;
• Identifi cation of demand for and supply of long-term care services in Pennsylvania;
• Documentation of current and projected costs of long-term care services in Pennsylvania;
• Development of a predictive model of consumer demand and cost of long-term care services in Pennsylvania.