New Study Shows the Benefits of Home Health Care
The Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare, an organization of home health providers that are dedicated to improving the overall quality of home health care of our seniors, applauds a new study by UCLA researchers published in the February issue of the peer-reviewed journal Medical Care.
Analyzed the data for 112,620 patients treated at 217 hospitals in 39 states and looking at information from a national surgery registry and Medicare claims, the study found that patients who were referred to home healthcare following hospital discharge experienced better health outcomes and incurred lower costs.
Skilled home healthcare utilizes an interdisciplinary team of nurses, therapists, social workers and aides, with care overseen by a physician, to ensure a patient’s complete recovery from an acute hospital stay or management of a chronic condition. Treatments and therapies once only available in an institutional setting are now safely and effectively administered in the comfort of a patient’s own home. In addition, keeping patients home is also a key source of savings for Medicare, patients and taxpayers alike.
“As Congress and the Administration continue to work towards a system that seeks and rewards value, we commend their attention to this study, which highlights the important role that skilled home healthcare plays for senior citizens and disabled Americans,” statedEric Berger, CEO of the Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare. “Home healthcare has long demonstrated its value in enabling the delivery of clinically-advanced, cost-effective, and patient-preferred treatment to Medicare beneficiaries, and we believe its expanded use can deliver even greater value to patients and taxpayers alike.”
The full article can be seen here: http://www.prnewswire.com/
