Against the backdrop of accelerating population aging in China and the multifaceted challenges confronting traditional elderly care models, the "home-institution integration" elderly care model has emerged. This model combines the warmth and familiarity of home-based care with the professional services offered by institutional care, serving as a crucial pathway for advancing the transformation and upgrading of elderly care services. Taking Ningbo City as a practical case, this study employs literature analysis, questionnaire surveys, and case studies to systematically examine the connotations, implementation pathways, and optimization strategies of the "home-institution integration" model. Findings suggest that by integrating resources through community platforms and extending institutional services to the household level, this model effectively enhances the accessibility and satisfaction of elderly care services. Ningbos efforts in policy support, smart platform development, and diversified service pilots provide replicable experiences that offer valuable insights for establishing a multi-tiered and sustainable elderly care service system in China.
Yan et al. (2025) studied this question.