Abstract
While the use of home healthcare is greatest in the US, numerous factors are driving an increased demand for home healthcare services and products in other countries. The estimated total spending for home healthcare services in the US in 1999 was $36bn, which, while a substantial figure, accounts for only about 3–4 per cent of the total expenditures for healthcare in the US Spending for home healthcare in other countries is substantially less on a percentage basis than in the US.
The home healthcare industry entered a period of rapid expansion in the mid-1960s in the US with the establishment of the Medicare program to fund care for the elderly. However, the home healthcare industry in the US contracted recently, dropping about 14 per cent in 1999 from $42bn in 1998, as a result of government efforts to curb healthcare spending, along with initiatives to eliminate fraud and abuse from the home healthcare system. The industry now appears poised for a recovery, and overall demographic and economic trends favour a significant expansion of the market for home healthcare products in the future, both in the US and worldwide.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.