Resource utilization groups. A patient classification system for long-term care.
The ability to understand, control, manage, regulate, and reimburse nursing home care has been hampered by the unavailability of a classification system of long-term care patients. A study of 1,469 patients in Connecticut nursing homes has resulted in such a classification system that clusters patients with similar relative needs for resources, in particular, for nursing time. The nine groups formed can be used to develop a case-mix profile of the relative care needs of these patients, and their development demonstrates that only a few measures of the functional status of patients, rather than diagnosis or psychosocial/behavioral problems, are sufficient to form such a system.
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D003237:Connecticut; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D003953:Diagnosis-Related Groups; D006295:Health Resources / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000145:classification*; D012051:Reimbursement Mechanisms