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Zhanlian Feng

RTI International


Zhanlian Feng

I am a senior researcher in the Aging, Disability, and Long-Term Care program at RTI International. I have over 20 years of experience in long-term care and health services research for older people in the United States and internationally. I specialize in using health care administrative data and quantitative research methods for health policy analysis and program evaluation, with a focus on the Medicare-Medicaid dually eligible population. I have led evaluations of recent health care payment and service delivery models for the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services Innovation Center of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including the Medicare-Medicaid Financial Alignment Initiative and the Initiative to Reduce Avoidable Hospitalizations among Nursing Facility Residents. In China, I have led groundbreaking studies documenting the growth and characteristics of elder care facilities and offering key policy recommendations towards building an efficient and sustainable long-term care system. My work commissioned by the World Bank has contributed to understanding policy responses and emerging long-term care systems in low- and middle-income countries in the context of global population aging.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Countries China; United States;
Topics Care Homes; Care integration/ coordination; Care outcomes; Community-based LTC; Economics of LTC; Evaluation of LTC systems and services; Financing LTC; Governance and LTC systems organisation; LTC insurance; LTC Policy; LTC Systems; LTC systems in LMIC countries; LTC utitilisation; Outcome measurement in LTC; Relationship between LTC use and hospital use; Residential LTC services; Social Insurance;
Methods Analysis of administrative data; Causal inference in Long-Term Care; Mixed methods; Observational studies; Policy analysis; Quantitative data analysis; Quasi-experimental methods;
Role Research;
Interest Groups Long-Term Care Policy; Strengthening Responses to Dementia; Technology and Long-Term Care;
Websitehttps://www.rti.org/expert/zhanlian-feng
ORC.ID0000-0002-5231-6870
LinkedInhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/zhanlian-feng-2a570767
Research interests

Long-term care research and policy; Aging and elder care in China and in global contexts; Long-term care systems across countries; Integrated and person-centered care for older adults; Quantitative methods for program evaluation.

Key publications

Feng, Z., & Wu, B. (2023). Embracing Challenges for Population Aging in China: Building Scientific Evidence to Inform Long-Term Care Policymaking and Practice. Journal of Aging & Social Policy, 35(5), 543–553. doi:10.1080/08959420.2023.2217979

Feng, Z., Lin, Y., Wu, B., Zhuang, X., & Glinskaya, E. (2023). China’s Ambitious Policy Experiment with Social Long-Term Care Insurance: Promises, Challenges, and Prospects. Journal of Aging & Social Policy, 35(5), 705–721. doi:10.1080/08959420.2023.2182574

Feng, Z., Glinskaya, E., Chen, H., Gong, S., Qiu, Y., Xu, J., & Yip, W. (2020). Long-term care system for older adults in China: Policy landscape, challenges, and future prospects. Lancet, 396(10259), 1362–1372. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32136-X

Feng, Z., Glinskaya, E. (2020). Aiming higher: Advancing public social insurance for long-term care to meet the global aging challenge: Comment on “Financing long-term care: Lessons from Japan.” International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 9(8), 356–359. doi:10.15171/ijhpm.2019.121

Feng, Z. (2019). Global convergence: Aging and long-term care policy challenges in the developing world. Journal of Aging & Social Policy, 31(4), 291–297. https://doi.org/10.1080/08959420.2019.1626205

Glinskaya, E., & Feng, Z. (Eds.). (2018). Options for aged care in China: Building an efficient and sustainable aged care system. Washington, DC: World Bank. Available at https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/29807.

Feng Z. (2017). Filial piety and old-age support in China: Tradition, continuity, and change. In X. Zang & L. X. Zhao (Eds.), Handbook on the Family and Marriage in China (pp. 266–285). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Feng, Z., Guan, X., Feng, X., Liu, C., Zhan, H., & Mor, V. (2014). Long-term care in China: Reining in market forces through regulatory oversight. In V. Mor, T. Leone, & A. Maresso (Eds.), Regulating Long-Term Care Quality: An International Comparison (pp. 409–443). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Feng, Z., Liu, C., Guan, X., & Mor, V. (2012). China’s rapidly aging population creates policy challenges in shaping a viable long-term care system. Health Affairs, 31(12), 2764–2773. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2012.0535

Feng, Z., Fennell, M. L., Tyler, D. A., Clark, M., & Mor, V. (2011). The care span: Growth of racial and ethnic minorities in U.S. nursing homes driven by demographics and possible disparities in care options. Health Affairs, 30(7), 1358–1365. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2011.0126

Feng, Z., Zhan, H. J., Feng, X., Liu, C., Sun, M., & Mor, V. (2011). An industry in the making: The emergence of institutional elder care in urban China. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 59(4), 738–744. doi:10.1111/j.1532-5415.2011.03330.x

Feng, Z., Hirdes, J. P., Smith, T. F., Finne-Soveri, H., Chi, I., Du Pasquier, J. N., Gilgen, R., Ikegami, N., & Mor, V. (2009). Use of physical restraints and antipsychotic medications in nursing homes: A cross-national study. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 24(10), 1110–1118. doi:10.1002/gps.2232

Smith, D. B., Feng, Z., Fennel, M. L., Zinn, J. S., & Mor, V. (2007). Separate and unequal: Racial segregation and disparities in quality across U.S. nursing homes. Health Affairs, 26(5), 1448–1458. PMID:17848457