Subacute and post acute care: The bridge between acute and long-term care

"Subacute care" and "post acute care (PAC)" represent a level of care in between acute and long-term care. This review article introduces the background, related systems and cost-effectiveness of sub-acute and post acute care in the US and intermediate care in UK in order to identify issues and experiences from which Taiwan's policymakers and medical professionals can learn. If the Bureau of National Health Insurance moves ahead with plans to change medical payment policies for inpatients from the current fee for services system to Diagnostic Related Groups (DRGs) payment system, patients not meeting acute illness criteria will be asked to discharge in order to decrease the length of hospital stays. Therefore, prior to implement a prospective payment system, an appropriate subacute / post acute care system should be established and developed to ensure the quality of continuous care and total system cost savings.