Managing competition in the countryside: Non-profit and for-profit perceptions of long-term care in rural Ontario

Mark W. Skinner and Mark W. Rosenberg

Social Science & Medicine, 2006, vol. 63, issue 11, 2864-2876

Abstract: This paper contributes to the current debates surrounding private delivery of health care services by addressing the distinctive challenges, constraints and opportunities facing for-profit and non-profit providers of long-term care in rural and small town settings. It focuses on the empirical case of Ontario, Canada where extensive restructuring of long-term care, under the rubric of managed competition, has been underway since the mid-1990s. In-depth interviews with 72 representatives from local governments, public health institutions and authorities, for-profit and non-profit organisations, and community groups during July 2003 to December 2003 form the platform for a qualitative analysis of the implications of managed competition as it relates to the provision of long-term care in the countryside. The results suggest that the introduction and implementation of managed competition has accentuated the problems of service provision in rural communities, and that the long-standing issues of caregiving in rural situations transcend the differences, perceived or otherwise, between for-profit and non-profit provision. Understanding the implications of market-oriented long-term care restructuring initiatives for providers, and their clients, in rural situations requires a re-focussing of research beyond the for- versus non-profit dichotomy.

Keywords: Canada; Long-term; care; Managed; competition; For-profit; Non-profit; Rural; and; small; town (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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