National Trends and Geographic Variation in Availability of Home Health Care: 2002-2015.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

To evaluate national trends and geographic variation in the availability of home health care from 2002 to 2015 and identify county-specific characteristics associated with home health care.

Design

Observational study.

Setting

All counties in the United States.

Participants

All Medicare-certified home health agencies included in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Home Health Compare system.

Measurements

County-specific availability of home health care, defined as the number of available home health agencies that provided services to a given county per 100,000 population aged ≥18 years.

Results

The study included 15,184 Medicare-certified home health agencies that served 97% of U.S. ZIP codes. Between 2002-2003 and 2014-2015, th

SUBMITTER: Wang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5507741 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature