Abstract
The purpose of this study is to reconsider the roles of health care facilities for the elderly including the standpoint of local characteristics of each facility. According to a nation-wide questionnaire survey for the facilities established before June 1998, 19 categories in five indices related to the characteristics of each facility were obtained. As the result of principal component analysis, two major principal components were extracted. The one is related with the length of stay of the elderly and the places transferred to and from the facility, while the other is related with the age of the facility after the operation. According to the further analysis using the component scores and cluster analysis, the samples were classified into four identical types, i.e. long-term staying type, newly built dementia caring type, short stay quick turnover type and supporting home care type.
