Table 2. Medicare program payments for home health agency visits and average annual rate of growth, by factor: Calendar years 1974, 1983, and 1988.
| Factor | Calendar years | Average annual rate of growth | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|||||
| 1974 | 1983 | 1988 | 1974-88 | 1974-83 | 1983-88 | |
| Charges in thousands | Percent | |||||
| Total HHA charges | $147,499 | $1,657,024 | $2,453,974 | 22.2 | 30.8 | 8.2 |
| Total visit charges | $137,406 | $1,596,989 | $2,341,441 | 22.4 | 31.3 | 8.0 |
| Ratio of visit to total charges | 0.932 | 0.964 | 0.954 | NA | NA | NA |
| Reimbursement and visits in thousands | ||||||
| Total HHA reimbursements | $141,484 | $1,398,092 | $1,945,768 | 20.6 | 29.0 | 6.8 |
| HHA visit reimbursements | $131,806 | $1,347,481 | $1,856,457 | 20.8 | 29.5 | 6.6 |
| HHA visits | 8,070 | 36,844 | 37,713 | 11.6 | 18.4 | 0.5 |
| Reimbursement per HHA visit | $16.33 | $36.57 | $49.23 | 8.2 | 9.4 | 6.1 |
| Enrollment and use | ||||||
| Medicare enrollment in thousands | 24,201.0 | 30,026.1 | 32,980.0 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 1.9 |
| Persons served | 392,700 | 1,351,200 | 1,601,700 | 10.6 | 14.7 | 3.5 |
| Persons served per 1,000 enrollees | 16 | 45 | 49 | 8.3 | 12.2 | 1.7 |
| Visits per person served | 21 | 27 | 24 | 1.0 | 2.8 | −2.4 |
| Contribution to rise in HHA visit reimbursement | Percent contribution | |||||
| Total | — | — | — | — | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Medicare enrollment1 | — | — | — | — | 8.9 | 25.8 |
| Persons served per 1,000 enrollees | — | — | — | — | 45.4 | 22.7 |
| HHA visits per person served | — | — | — | — | 10.5 | −31.8 |
| Average reimbursement per visit | — | — | — | — | 35.2 | 83.3 |
1
As of July 1.
NOTES: HHA is home health agency. NA is not applicable.
SOURCE: Health Care Financing Administration, Bureau of Data Management and Strategy: Data are from the Medicare Decision Support System; data development by the Office of Research and Demonstrations.