Market-Modelled Home Care: Impact on Job Satisfaction and Propensity to Leave

Responding to increasing health-care costs, deficit financing and the aging of the population, many OECD nations are exploring new cost-efficient health-care models. One such model, designed to manage the home-based health-care system through the application of quasi-market principles has been adopted by the province of Ontario. Findings from a case study of 835 Ontario home-care workers indicate that a market-modelled approach to health-care restructuring may be leading to decreased levels of job satisfaction and a greater propensity to leave among workers in the home-care sector.