Data analysis and quality improvement activities in the home health industry are essential to achieving and maintaining the level of quality expected for each and every patient. Medicare-certified home health agencies have access to a wide variety of patient data and other quality indicators, which can form the foundation for proactive process improvement. This article provides a brief review of the available home health data, followed by two agency case studies demonstrating radically different approaches to using available data to improve their patient outcomes, including reducing avoidable hospitalizations.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. ( 2005). 100% MEDPAR inpatient hospital fiscal year 2005 6/06 Update, short stay inpatient by state. Retrieved March 27, 2007, from http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MedicareFeeforSvcPartsAB/Downloads/DRGstate05.pdf .
2.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. ( 2007). CMS home health pay-for-performance demonstration. Retrieved March 29, 2007, from http://www.cms.hhs.gov/DemoProjectsEvalRpts/MD/itemdetail.asp?filterType=none&filterByDID=0&sortByDID=3&sortOrder=ascending&itemID=CMS1189406&intNumPerPage=2000\
3.
Fazzi & Associates. (2006). Briggs National Quality Improvement Hospitalization Reduction Study. National Association of Home Care and Hospice (NAHC). Retrieved March 29, 2007, from http://www.nahc.org/NAHC/CaringComm/eNAHCReport/datacharts/hospredstudy.pdf
4.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ( 2003). Home Health Compare. Retrieved April 3, 2007, from http://www.medicare.gov/HHCompare/Home.asp
5.
Norwalk, L. (2007). Campaigning for quality: CMS effort promotes home care best practices. Caring Magazine, 26(1), 8-11.
6.
Rosatti, R., Huang, L., Navaie-Waliser., M., & Feldman, P. (2003). Risk factors for repeated hospitalizations among home healthcare recipients. Journal for Healthcare Quality,25(2), 4-11.
