Government Website Provides Detailed Information on Providers of Home Health Services

Written By: Attorney Jeffrey A. Marshall, CELA*  The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released its Home Health Compare for the entire nation.  The data published on the CMS website provides information for consumers about all Medicare- Certified Home Health Agencies including the quality of care provided by individual home health agencies.    The data, which will be updated quarterly, is available at Medicare's consumer website at  www.medicare.gov  and through Medicare's help line at 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227).The information is intended to allow consumers to make more informed decisions about their health care while stimulating providers to improve the quality of home health care.  To develop the quality component, CMS convened a panel of experts and chose 11 home health quality measures for public reporting.  The quality measures include: -Four measures related to improvement in getting around (getting better at walking or moving around, getting in and out of bed; getting to and from the toilet and having less pain when moving around); -Four measures related to meeting basic daily needs (getting better at dressing, bathing and taking oral medicines correctly; staying the same and not getting worse at bathing); -Two measures related to medical emergencies (had to be admitted to the hospital and needed urgent, unplanned medical care); and -One measure related to improvement in mental health (being confused less often). Home Health Compare is part of the federal government's continuing initiative to improve the quality of health care by expanding consumer access to quality-related information.  Last year CMS issued quality data about Medicare and Medicaid-certified nursing homes across the country.  The nursing home information is also available on the Medicare website.  The Elder Care Law Alert has published several articles regarding nursing home comparisons and online guides to choosing a nursing home.  These articles are available online at: http://www.paelderlaw.com/penaltydivisor.html  "Online Nursing Home Comparison Guides Provide New Resource for Nursing Home Shoppers"( June 25, 2003 ) http://www.paelderlaw.com/nhquality.html "Government Publishes Information About Nursing Home Quality" ( Dec 20, 2002 )  Return to Marshall, Parker & Associates' Home Page Return to Home Care Options Page