Home health agency quality: Medicare certification findings compared to patient outcomes.
As part of an evaluation of the Medicare certification program for home health agencies (HHAs), we examined the extent to which certification findings were related to patient outcomes. In a previous study, we collected longitudinal patient data for a national sample of 42 HHAs and developed precise patient outcome measures. In this study, the outcome measures were compared to certification findings for the same HHAs and time period (1991-93). We found relatively little association between the two sets of measures. The findings indicate that the Medicare HHA survey process does not yet successfully incorporate patient outcomes.
Schlenker
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Center for Health Services Research, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver 80222, USA.
Hittle
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Arnold
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D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D014487:Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S.; D002568:Certification; D006302:Health Services Research; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D018574:Home Care Agencies / Q000592:standards*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D006278:Medicare / Q000592:standards*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States