Information intermediaries in the social care market for the older population

• Autor(a) principal: Albuquerque, Paula
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/14178
• topic: Older Population; Social Care Services; Health Care; Developed Countries

The models for social care services for the older population have historically been substantially diverse in developed countries, ranging from those where the State had a dominant position to those where care was mainly provided by the family and some not-for-profit organizations. The recent trend, triggered in part by demographic change, is an increasingly mixed nature of this market, combining the four possible types of providers (family, not-for-profit sector, for-profit sector, and the State). Some countries converge to this model, increasing the importance of the provision by the State, while others approach it from a different direction, allowing for more provision by non-State sectors. Either way, the markets for social care for the older people are globally becoming diversified and fragmented, and care users, or those who have to choose a care provider face a complex task. This market structure is far from satisfying the perfect information ideal. In this paper we discuss the case for the centralisation and publication of information in the social care market, going beyond the rights-based approach and putting the efficiency argument assigned to improved information into perspective. The efficiency argument can be used in the context of any imperfect competition market, where supply is fragmented. Is social care different from car repair, for instance? We present the main arguments to support this market development and the respective limitations. The merit of the final option will depend largely on the efficiency of the creation of a central information intermediary, balancing its costs with the good use that people make of the material that is supplied. This good use is correlated with the improvement in the decisions of social care customers and how much this improvement is valued. We explore the possible information channels, discussing each one’s strengths and weaknesses, suggesting that a mix must be offered to reach consumers in order to ensure that information is actually used in decision-making.