Improving the home health acute-care hospitalization quality measure.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

(1) To demonstrate average length of service (ALOS) bias in the currently used acute-care hospitalization (ACH) home health quality measure, limiting comparability across agencies, and (2) to propose alternative ACH measures.

Data sources/study setting

Secondary analysis of Medicare home health service data 2004-2007; convenience sample of Medicare fee-for-service hospital discharges.

Study design

Cross-sectional analysis and patient-level simulation.

Data collection/extraction methods

We aggregated outcome and ALOS data from 2,347 larger Medicare-certified home health agencies (HHAs) in the United States between 2004 and 2007, and calculated risk-adjusted monthly ACH rates. We used multiple regression to identify agency characteristics associated wi

SUBMITTER: Schade CP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2875756 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature