Base on the policy of “Ageing in Place”, the Taiwan government has oriented the development of community-based care in which the home service program subsidized by the Ministry of Interior was regarded as an important plan. The aim of this study was to understand the home service practice in Taiwan. Four home service agencies were included and 327 service recipients or their principal families were interviewed. The research showed that most of the home services recipients match the criteria of getting free home services allowances. Results showed that the characteristics associated with service use mainly depended on the subsidy level which was to distribute free home service hours according to the criteria of the recipients’ functional disability and financial status. It was found that most of the recipients fully utilized the free home service hours, however, only few percentage of the home service was purchased by out of pocket money. In addition, the home service needs of recipients from different social status were discussed. Home services could not replace the care function in households. The research findings support the need for individualized care management assessment to monitor the long-term care needs regularly for service recipients and families as a whole.
