Changes in service use and unmet needs in home- and community- based services in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT:

Background

More than 4 million older adults in the United States use publicly funded home-and community-based services (HCBS) which were disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is paucity of empirical evidence of how service disruptions influenced consumer needs in different types of HCBS. Therefore, we evaluate changes in service use and consumer-reported unmet service needs in HCBS during the COVID-19 pandemic (2021-2022) versus pre-pandemic (2018-2019), to inform future public health emergency (PHE) preparedness.

Methods

We analyzed repeated cross-sectional survey data from the National Core Indicators- Aging and Disability Adult Consumer Survey in two survey waves, 2018-2019 and 2021-2022. We included community-dwelling, older HCBS consumers (age ≥ 65 years; n = 71

SUBMITTER: Parikh RR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12481764 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature