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Resources by Topic: Home health

Rural Health Research Recap: Quality Star Ratings: Hospitals, Skilled Nursing Facilities, and Home Health Agencies
Examines the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating system among hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and home health agencies in 2021 and 2022. Features statistics including number of rural hospitals without a star rating with breakdowns by census region, and percentage of hospitals without star rating, with breakdowns by urban or rural location.
Author(s): Per Ostmo
Date: 03/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Research Gateway
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MedPAC Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy: Home Health Care Services: Chapter 7
Discusses payment adequacy for home health care services. Features statistics on Medicare margins for home health agencies between 2019-2022 with breakdowns by urban and rural areas and the number of home health periods provided to rural beneficiaries.
Date: 03/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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MedPAC Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy, 2024
Annual review of Medicare payment policies, with recommendations to Congress. Includes discussion on Medicare payment policies directly affecting rural providers and beneficiaries. Addresses payment adequacy for Medicare fee-for-service payment systems, Medicare Advantage (MA), and Medicare Part D. Includes two mandated reports on special needs plans for beneficiaries dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid and the Rural Emergency Hospital (REH) designation.
Date: 03/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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2023 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report: Chartbook on Patient Safety
Summarizes trends in healthcare quality across 28 measures of patient safety. Presents findings for four settings of care: ambulatory care, home health, hospitals, and nursing homes. Describes disparities in patient safety by race/ethnicity, sex, age, and insurance status. Highlights disparities for maternal morbidity and mortality measures by rurality.
Author(s): Barbara Barton, Darryl Gray, Cecilia Hahn, et al.
Date: 03/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
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Rural Health Research Recap: Post-Acute Care in Rural Areas: The Role of Swing Beds and Nursing Homes
Offers statistics on availability of post-acute care in rural areas through skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, hospice, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, and swing beds. Includes sections on prospective payment system and cost-based reimbursement, and provides statistics on the proportion of nursing home closures in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas from 2008-2018.
Author(s): Per Ostmo
Date: 03/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Research Gateway
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Place of Care in the Last Three Years of Life for Medicare Beneficiaries
Examines place of care during the last 3 years of life according to days of institutional care (hospital inpatient or skilled nursing facility), skilled home care (home healthcare or hospice), or personal home. Analyzes sociodemographic factors of 199,828 Medicare beneficiaries, with data broken down by median days in care, age at death, sex, race/ethnicity, insurance type, health conditions, and metro versus nonmetro neighborhood.
Author(s): Haiqun Lin, Irina B. Grafova, Anum Zafar, et al.
Citation: BMC Geriatrics, 24, 91
Date: 01/2024
Type: Document
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Investing in North Carolina's Caregiving Workforce: Recommendations to Strengthen North Carolina's Nursing, Direct Care, and Behavioral Health Workforce
Reports on North Carolina's caregiving workforce, with focus areas in nursing, behavioral health, and direct care. Provides context, describes existing solutions, and makes recommendations for addressing challenges and shortages in each focus area. Highlights state health investment, and lists current caregiving workforce initiatives. Mentions rural communities throughout.
Date: 01/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
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January 2024 MedPAC Meeting Transcript
Transcript from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's (MedPAC) January 2024 meeting. Covers payment adequacy and updates for physician and other health professional services, hospital inpatient and outpatient services, outpatient dialysis services, hospice services, skilled nursing facility services, home health agency services, and inpatient rehabilitation facility services. Discusses status reports on ambulatory surgical centers, Medicare Part D, and the Medicare Advantage program, as well as policy options for standardized benefits in Medicare Advantage plans. Includes rural references and considerations throughout.
Date: 01/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Supportive Care Needs of Adults Living with a Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter (PICC) at Home: A Qualitative Content Analysis
Examines the challenges and supportive care needs of adults living at home with a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC). Describes interview feedback from 15 participants focused on issues such as daily management of PICCs, physical and emotional impacts, and health literacy and supports. Includes information specific to adults living with PICCs in rural areas.
Author(s): Rebecca Sharp, Qunyan Xu, ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬Robyn Pumpa, et al.
Citation: BMC Nursing, 23, 4
Date: 01/2024
Type: Document
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December 2023 MedPAC Meeting Transcript
Transcript from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's (MedPAC) December 2023 meeting. Covers payment adequacy and updates for physician and other health professional services, hospital inpatient and outpatient services, hospice services, outpatient dialysis services, ambulatory surgical center services, skilled nursing facilities, skilled nursing facility services, home health services, and inpatient rehabilitation facility services. Includes rural references throughout.
Date: 12/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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