BEIJING, July 3 (Xinhua) -- China will speed up its efforts to formulate a system of standards on elderly-accommodating functions and designs in buildings and public facilities, according to a national meeting on aging held Wednesday.

Two of the specialty areas within the health-care field are skilled nursing homes and hospice care. A skilled nursing home provides a residence for ill or recovering people who cannot care for themselves. Hospice care provides support and care for people with a limited life expectancy; the goal is to enable them to live as fully and comfortable as possible in their remaining days.

The costs associated with receiving care in skilled long-term care facilities, or nursing homes, are ever increasing, and many people wonder what they can do to mitigate these costs or protect their assets. The bottom line is that if you actually need skilled nursing care, you might be unable to avoid the cost of a nursing home at some point in the future. However, you can take a number of steps to remain independent for as long as possible and to provide for these costs if they do arise in the future. Have a question? Get an answer from a Personal Finance Professional now!

When you or someone you care about requires skilled nursing care in the home, paying for the care can be one of the most stressful aspects of the situation. Though the costs of skilled nursing care are high, options are available. As with most situations, proper planning can enable an individual to navigate through the situation with relative ease. Planning for a day when skilled nursing care might be needed can save headache and heartache in the long run.

A skilled rehab facility is a place where patients can go once they are discharged from the hospital, but are not yet capable of going home and functioning on their own. Skilled rehab facilities provide nursing services and additional services such as physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy to help patients recover from their ailments so that they can eventually return home. Often times skilled rehab facilities are in conjunction with long term nursing homes.

For China's elderly, limited resources is not the only concern they have. Despite the fact that more elderly have been covered by the country's pension system, many doubt whether the pension fund enough to support themselves?

Lack of trained managers and application of technical skills are the main obstacles hindering progress in China's increasingly burdened rehabilitation and nursing sector, says Nils Persson, managing director of Swedish Healthcare, a training provider and consultancy. Persson believes that these issues are mainly because of a reluctance to see the benefits of investing in training and knowledge and recognizing that technical know-how rather than just equipment are of value to organizations.

Liuzhou city in South China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region is going to expand and upgrade the facilities of seven daycare centers in a bid to better take care of local senior citizens.

BEIJING, June 24 (Xinhua) -- China will face financial pressure to cover the growing population of senior people with its social insurance funds, a government official said on Monday.

BEIJING, (Xinhua) -- A controversial revised elder care law that stipulates regular visits to elderly family members is aimed at backing social ethics with legislation, according to a Chinese legal expert.

BEIJING, (Xinhua) -- Home and neighborhood-based elder-care services will be available in all of China's urban communities and half of its rural areas by the end of 2015, the country's vice minister of civil affairs vowed on Wednesday.

The new Chinese Elderly Protection Law came into effect recently, sparking hot debate in China regarding a clause that demands those who live apart from their parents to visit them more often or regularly contact them.

The Chinese government has released two draft rules on elderly care institutions in order to improve care for people age 60 and over.

As the only country in the world with an elderly population of over 100 million, China is expediting its pace of establishing a “suitably pluralistic” elderly welfare system meeting the conditions of the country.

In China, as people are living longer and the elderly population continues to rise, market demand for healthcare and rehabilitation products designed to meet the needs of seniors for home safety and physical health is fast expanding. At present, the business turnover of companies selling home medical and rehabilitation products on the mainland is growing at over 20% a year. Some enterprises are even posting triple-digit growth.