Research On The Role Of Government Regulation In Long-Term Care Services Under Multiple Supply

Since the 21st century,the form of aging and advanced ageing of China’s population has become increasingly serious.The risk of incapacity in the elderly population is increasing.In order to effectively cope with this risk,the central and local authorities have promulgated made a series of policy responses and practical explorations,and started the pilot long-term care insurance system in 2016.During the piloting process,the system presents the characteristics of multi-supply and market-oriented,and Qingdao is particularly typical.In this context,government regulation of welfare becomes an important dimension for understanding its role,and regulation increasingly becomes an essential tool of welfare governance.Accordingly,the research question of this paper is:How does the government regulate long-term care services in Qingdao?To answer this question,this study constructs an analytical framework for government regulation of long-term care services under the guidance of Regulatory Welfare Theory and Responsive Regulation Theory,and uses a combination of case study and textual analysis to investigate the representations,roles,effectiveness and limitations of government regulation in long-term care services in Qingdao,and draws the following conclusions:Firstly,the bibliometric analysis and content analysis of regulatory policies show that during the development and improvement period of long-term care services in Qingdao,the municipal government of Qingdao continuously responded to regulatory needs,and a large number of regulatory-related policy documents and independence documents were issued,and its regulatory attention grew rapidly.At the same time,the extension of long-term care service regulation in terms of subjects,objects,links and contents has been expanded;the regulatory efforts have been continuously strengthened.Secondly,based on a process perspective,this study analyzes government regulation of long-term care services in Qingdao through a deconstruction of the care service process in three dimensions:access and exit,service delivery process,and service quality.The results show that:access and exit regulation functions as a source screening mechanism and an endcleaning mechanism;care service delivery process regulation ensures the standardization of care needs assessment and identification,controls the process of care service implementation,and guarantees the safety and sustainable fund in the payment and settlement process;and the four mechanisms of service quality verification,service organization evaluation,service personnel training and certification,and service quality feedback assessment ensure the quality of care services together.On this basis,this study presents a more complete picture of the regulatory welfare of long-term care services in ingdao.A further evaluation of government regulation of long-term care services in ingdao shows that government regulation has maintained the order of the care service market,enhanced the standardization of the service process,ensured the quality and fairness of care services,and improved the safety of health insurance funds.To a certain extent,this has effectively dealt with the potential shocks and risks in the process of multiple and marketization of providers.However,there are limitations in government regulation such as insufficient participation of multiple actors,single regulatory approach,focus on process and neglect of outcome,and present regulatory preferences.In response to the above limitations,this study proposes policy recommendations to improve the effectiveness of government regulation in four aspects,including the construction of interactive mechanisms for the participation of multiple regulatory actors,comprehensive use of diversified regulatory tools,process-oriented focus on service results and optimization of the regulatory assessment indicator system.Finally,this study further discusses the role of government regulation in welfare governance in terms of its role situation,intensity,orientation,and valuation.