title: Seniors' need for and use of Medicare home health services.
abstract: This study examined: (a) nature and extent of seniors' need for care both at time of admission to and discharge from Medicare home health services, and (b) relationships among admission need, service utilization, need at discharge, and discharge disposition for one episode of home care services. The sample of 195 was stratified by home health discharge disposition: (a) acute group, (b) chronic group, and (c) stable home group. Two classification systems were used to access the seniors' level of need, the mandated Medicare case-mix system (CMS) and a holistic intensity of need system. Findings show that there were no differences in services received by the three groups, that discharge did not mean seniors' need for home care services had been eliminated or reduced, and that caregiver support impacts seniors' need for home care.
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003953:Diagnosis-Related Groups / Q000145:classification*; D017050:Episode of Care; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006302:Health Services Research; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D006278:Medicare; D015146:Midwestern United States; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies