WORK PACKAGE 5

In Austria, the responsibilities for long-term care mainly lie with the provinces, although federal and organisational-level initiative has grown. Quality assurance policies focus overwhelmingly on the health system and are only slowly appearing in the realm of long-term care (LTC). Although the Austrian LTC system is still very fragmented owing to the division of competencies, there are enhanced efforts underway to harmonise LTC provision, standards and quality nationwide. Currently, quality assurance remains mostly at the stage of setting general frameworks or launching small-scale projects, with some notable exceptions. Additional efforts are needed for concerted reforms and for furthering implementation activities. ENEPRI Research Reports present the findings and conclusions of research undertaken in the context of research projects carried out by a consortium of ENEPRI member institutes. This report is a contribution to Work Package 5 of the ANCIEN project, which focuses on the future of long-term care for the elderly in Europe, funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme (FP 7 Health-2007-3.2.2, Grant no. 223483). See back page for more information. The views expressed are attributable only to the authors in