Skip to content
DraconiticResearch
Search Sources API
203,948 studies31 sourcesUpdated 11 min ago
Peer-reviewedCC BYBMC health services research

How access to long-term care affects short-term care.

  • Ismail Aydemir1,2,3
  • René Bekker4
  • Dennis Moeke5
  • Bianca M Buurman6,7
  • Rob D van der Mei4,8
8 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Mathematics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. [email protected].
  2. 2Stochastics Group, Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica, Science Park 123, Amsterdam, 1098XG, The Netherlands. [email protected].
  3. 3Department of Medicine for Older People, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. [email protected].
  4. 4Department of Mathematics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
  5. 5Research Group Logistics and Alliances, HAN University of Applied Sciences, Arnhem, The Netherlands.
  6. 6Department of Medicine for Older People, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
  7. 7Section of Geriatric Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
  8. 8Stochastics Group, Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica, Science Park 123, Amsterdam, 1098XG, The Netherlands.
Read full textPDFDOICite

Abstract

Objective

Healthcare systems face growing pressure due to rising demand, population aging, and staffing shortages. In the Netherlands, limited access to long-term care often results in clients being admitted to short-term care while awaiting nursing home placement, increasing strain on these services. Over 50% of nursing home clients are admitted via short-term care, an outcome considered undesirable. This study takes a macro-level approach to assess to what extent more efficient nursing home bed allocation can reduce waiting times and ease pressure on the system.Methods

Modeling admission trajectories of older adults in need of nursing home care across long- and short-term care settings in the Netherlands, using discrete-event simulation. The model simulates client arrivals, admissions to and discharges from both short-term care and long-term care. We compare the current decentralized admission policy to a centralized admission policy, using average waiting times and fraction of short-term care admissions as performance metrics.Results

A centralized admission policy substantially reduces waiting times and short-term care admissions. For the base case scenario, with 90% regional bed occupancy, waiting times drop from 336 to 35 days, and short-term care admissions decrease from 45% to 4.5%. When demand variation across nursing homes is higher, these reductions can be even larger.Conclusions

Results show that long waiting times and uneven demand across nursing homes increase short-term care admissions and place additional pressure on the system. Efficient bed allocation may help reduce this pressure. Its effectiveness is largest when the system is working close to its full capacity, while it's less affected when it's running far below or well beyond that point. Additionally, an increase in non long-term care client admissions to the short-term care triggers a multiplier effect, further straining the system. These dynamics highlight the interdependency between long-term care and short-term care.

Related

  1. Cardiac Surgery-Associated Acute Kidney Injury: A Continuum from Pathophysiological Mechanisms to Prevention, Management, and Long-Term Care : Short title: Cardiac Surgery-Associated Acute Kidney Injury.
    Sohrab Negargar, Elnaz Javanshir, Sahar Sadeghi
    Galen medical journalPeer-reviewedCC BYFull textGeneral medicineEurope PMC
  2. Short-term perioperative safety and long-term follow-up after robotic-assisted resection of non-renal, non-adrenal retroperitoneal tumors: a 10-year retrospective cohort study
    Translational andrology and urologyPeer-reviewedCC BY-NC-NDFull textGeneral medicineEurope PMC
  3. Dynamic serum chloride trajectories predict short- and long-term mortality in patients with malignancies: a retrospective cohort study with external validation
    Ruming Zhao, Shaojun Yang
    Frontiers in oncologyPeer-reviewedCC BYFull textOncologyEurope PMC
  4. Short- and Long-term Patency of Prophylactic and Therapeutic Lymphovenous Anastomosis for Extremity Lymphedema: A Systematic Review
    Adriano Fabi, Séverin R. Wendelspiess, Christian Appenzeller-Herzog +1
    Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global openPeer-reviewedCC BY-NC-NDFull textSurgery & anaesthesiaEurope PMC
  5. Prognostic value of RDW-to-platelet ratio for short- and long-term mortality after cardiac surgery: dual-center MIMIC-IV and external validation
    Qiannan Guo, Yuehang Yang, Hanshen Luo +2
    Scientific ReportsPeer-reviewedCC BY-NC-ND 4.0Full textOncologyCrossref

Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{aydemir2026access,
  title = {{How access to long-term care affects short-term care.}},
  author = {Ismail Aydemir and René Bekker and Dennis Moeke and Bianca M Buurman and Rob D van der Mei},
  journal = {BMC health services research},
  year = {2026},
  month = jul,
  doi = {10.1186/s12913-026-15163-0},
  url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42897634},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - How access to long-term care affects short-term care.
AU  - Ismail Aydemir
AU  - René Bekker
AU  - Dennis Moeke
AU  - Bianca M Buurman
AU  - Rob D van der Mei
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/01
JO  - BMC health services research
DO  - 10.1186/s12913-026-15163-0
UR  - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42897634
AB  - Objective  Healthcare systems face growing pressure due to rising demand, population aging, and staffing shortages. In the Netherlands, limited access to long-term care often results in clients being admitted to short-term care while awaiting nursing home placement, increasing strain on these services. Over 50% of nursing home clients are admitted via short-term care, an outcome considered undesirable. This study takes a macro-level approach to assess to what extent more efficient nursing home bed allocation can reduce waiting times and ease pressure on the system.Methods  Modeling admission trajectories of older adults in need of nursing home care across long- and short-term care settings in the Netherlands, using discrete-event simulation. The model simulates client arrivals, admissions to and discharges from both short-term care and long-term care. We compare the current decentralized admission policy to a centralized admission policy, using average waiting times and fraction of short-term care admissions as performance metrics.Results  A centralized admission policy substantially reduces waiting times and short-term care admissions. For the base case scenario, with 90% regional bed occupancy, waiting times drop from 336 to 35 days, and short-term care admissions decrease from 45% to 4.5%. When demand variation across nursing homes is higher, these reductions can be even larger.Conclusions  Results show that long waiting times and uneven demand across nursing homes increase short-term care admissions and place additional pressure on the system. Efficient bed allocation may help reduce this pressure. Its effectiveness is largest when the system is working close to its full capacity, while it's less affected when it's running far below or well beyond that point. Additionally, an increase in non long-term care client admissions to the short-term care triggers a multiplier effect, further straining the system. These dynamics highlight the interdependency between long-term care and short-term care.
SN  - 1472-6963
ER  -