Adult day care is becoming more popular among working
professionals whose parents live with them, according to the Wall Street
Journal. Demand for the service is growing from anywhere between 5% and 15%
every year, the Journal said.
Officials at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services have found that, in some areas where adult day care is extremely
popular, hospital readmission rates are down almost 50% for seniors
participating in local programs. It is popular in many cases because it offers
a more affordable and stimulating alternative to hiring a home health aide, the
Journal reported.
In 2007, the CMS started a three-year pilot program that
will allow funds originally earmarked for home health care services to be used
instead to help offset the costs of adult day care. Medicare officials called
results "encouraging."