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Home Health Care On the Rise
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Business New Haven
9/8/1997
By: Lori Green
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Joe Boucher is director of provider relations for Home Care Inc. of Wallingford.
What are the dominant trends in the home health-care industry in the region?
Most of the trends in our industry are generally the same at the national, regional and local levels. There's been an increasing demand for home health-care services because insurance companies, HMOs and other payers are looking for cost-effective sites for care, and providing care in the home has proven to be very cost-effective.
Which recent developments have made home health care more cost-effective than it was previously?
Length of stay in hospitals is what has changed most drastically. Insurance companies are continually trying to drive down length of hospital stays, so two-day stays are replacing week-long stays. A patient might be released to a sub-acute facility and then go home to be under the care of a nurse - and each step down from the hospital setting represents a reduction in cost. Also, we are going to see more activity in the state as promotion of managed Medicare products increases. Right now 56 percent of our business is Medicare and less than ten percent is managed care. But as managed care penetrates that population we will see a significant shift in our business.
Has technology played a role in determining the quality of care agencies such as yours can deliver in the home?
Yes, certainly the ability to monitor patients in their homes has improved. You can do a cardiogram or blood-sugar testing in the home using very small portable devices. Right now we're doing a lot of education of patients and caregivers so that they can provide some of these services. There are elements of care that families can provide, but there will always be elements that require the attention of a professional.
How has the nature of the care you provide in the home changed?
We are caring for a much more acutely ill patient in the home than we were three years ago. Patients are coming home from the hospital more quickly. An example is that we're providing more wound treatment since people are coming home from surgery sooner. The truth of the matter is that patients prefer to be at home.
Who are your customers?
It runs the gamut from consumers to physicians, acute-care hospitals, sub-acute and skilled nursing facilities, and contracted business with HMOs or case-management companies. The consumer piece of it is probably on the decline, and the contracted business with the HMOs is increasing. We tend to only work with employers directly on workers compensation cases.
Do you view assisted-living communities as a growth area for your industry?
Yes. This is a phenomenal growth market in the state right now. And we are going to see an expansion of assisted living facilities which typically provide a base level of health services for their community, and they will need to supplement their own staffs as their own populations age. More specialized services will be contracted out to home-care providers. The concept of “aging in place” is what you are seeing in retirement communities. People who moved to these communities in their 60s when they were still playing golf are now in their 80s and require services which are more health care-oriented and less recreational.
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