title: Respiratory therapists in home care.
abstract: Since the implementation of the Medicare prospective payment system (PPS) in October 2000, many sources indicate that the average numbers of patient visits in a home care episode have decreased. Patients with respiratory system diagnosis are a significant percentage of the total episodes in home care. Respiratory therapists (RTs) can provide additional staffing, meet patient needs, and control costs through greater flexibility in resource utilization.
authors.affiliation: Outcome Concept Systems (OCS), Inc., Seattle, Washington, USA. larper@ocsys.com
authors.forename: Larry
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Peregrine
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015276:Health Care Rationing; D006280:Health Workforce; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D006278:Medicare; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011445:Prospective Payment System; D012138:Respiratory Therapy / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000145:classification; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States