Shared-housing arrangements for care-dependent persons. Legal frameworks and numbers in Germany

Since the mid-1990s, supervised shared-housing arrangements (SHA; assisted living facilities) have developed as a specific type of small-scale living facility for elderly care-dependent persons with dementia in Germany, offering services different than those in residential care. Neither a uniform and binding definition of SHA nor reliable estimates concerning numbers currently exist. Since January 2013, SHA have been promoted nationwide in Germany by law. In a cross-sectional study funded by the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds numbers as well as legal and financial frameworks of SHA in Germany were surveyed. As of February 2013, almost all German "Bundesländer" (federal states) have created special legal regulations for supervised SHA. The results of the present study show at least 1,420 SHA with 10,590 care places for adults in Germany. The regional distribution differs greatly. Supervised SHA are increasingly an established care offer among the various long-term care offers in Germany. Different care and support offers help ensure individualized and high quality care for elderly care-dependent persons with dementia.