Invited Counter Argument for “Managing the Long-term Care Market: The Constraints of Service Quality Improvement”

Abstract

This paper investigates the validity of three topics related to service quality improvement in the long-term care market in Japan, especially focusing on service in Groupe homes. Three constraint models that explain the failure to improve service quality in the long-term care market: the Contract Failure Model, the Medical Arms Race（MAR）Model, and Suzuki and Satake’s（2001）Model are empirically addressed. In conclusion, none of the three models was fully supported. This sound conclusion is suggestive in considering the role of market mechanisms in the long-term care market, but some further factors or topics should have been noted for consistency with the real conditions of the Group home market in Japan.