Physician involvement in long-term care: bridging the medical and social models.

Long-term care is not easy to define. The boundaries between primary and acute and long-term care have become blurred. It is not surprising, therefore, that there is no consensus on the extent to which physicians are, and should be, involved in long-term care delivery. The purpose of this article is to explore the current and potential role of physicians in long-term care and the challenges to their involvement, to identify models of successful physician engagement in long-term care settings, and to suggest strategies that should be explored to increase appropriate physician participation in the long-term care system to help adequately meet the demand for quality services in our aging society.