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. 1990 Winter;12(2):113–126.

Table 7. Use and cost of home health agency services under Medicare, by agency and type of visit: Calendar year 1988.

Utilization and type of visit All agencies Visiting nurse association Combined Government and voluntary Government Hospital based Proprietary Private nonprofit Other1
Persons served in thousands
Total2 1,602 367 11 140 412 425 227 18
Nursing care 1,449 331 10 129 373 386 204 16
Home health aide 609 126 3 49 141 198 86 7
Physical therapy 467 115 3 32 119 125 66 6
Other3 279 74 1 11 70 80 39 4
Percent of persons served
Total2 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Nursing care 90.5 90.2 91.5 91.9 90.4 90.6 89.9 89.7
Home health aide 38.0 34.2 27.2 35.1 34.2 46.4 37.8 36.5
Physical therapy 29.1 31.3 27.8 23.2 28.9 29.4 28.8 35.1
Other3 17.4 20.2 7.2 7.8 17.0 18.7 17.3 19.7
Visits in thousands
Total 37,713 7,694 200 2,991 8,388 12,606 5,467 367
Nursing care 19,289 4,122 109 1,494 4,515 6,113 2,754 180
Home health aide 12,739 2,259 53 1,124 2,513 4,833 1,845 110
Physical therapy 4,352 966 33 296 1,038 1,290 672 57
Other3 1,333 346 5 76 321 368 197 20
Percent of visits
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Nursing care 51.1 53.6 54.7 50.0 53.8 48.5 50.4 49.1
Home health aide 33.8 29.4 26.6 37.6 30.0 38.3 33.7 30.0
Physical therapy 11.5 12.6 16.3 9.9 12.4 10.2 12.3 15.5
Other3 3.5 4.5 2.4 2.5 3.8 2.9 3.6 5.4
Visit charges in thousands
Total $2,341,441 $463,388 $10,917 $148,976 $558,979 $798,148 $335,966 $25,067
Nursing care 1,310,774 277,061 6,782 83,439 326,194 420,040 184,088 13,171
Home health aide 628,982 94,952 1,920 43,508 129,715 260,551 92,001 6,335
Physical therapy 298,893 64,971 1,888 17,003 76,289 89,337 45,303 4,100
Other3 102,792 26,404 327 5,026 26,781 28,220 14,574 1,461
Percent of visit charges
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Nursing care 56.0 59.8 62.1 56.0 58.4 52.6 54.8 52.5
Home health aide 26.9 20.5 17.6 29.2 23.2 32.6 27.4 25.3
Physical therapy 12.8 14.0 17.3 11.4 13.6 11.2 13.5 16.4
Other3 4.4 5.7 3.0 3.4 4.8 3.5 4.3 5.8
Average number of visits per person served
Total 23.5 20.9 17.6 21.4 20.3 29.6 24.1 20.4
Nursing care 13.3 12.4 10.5 11.6 12.1 15.9 13.5 11.2
Home health aide 20.9 18.0 17.2 22.9 17.8 24.5 21.5 16.8
Physical therapy 9.3 8.4 10.3 9.1 8.7 10.3 10.2 9.0
Other3 4.8 4.7 5.9 7.0 4.6 4.6 5.0 5.6
Average charge per visit
Total $62 $60 $55 $50 $67 $63 $61 $68
Nursing care 68 67 62 56 72 69 67 73
Home health aide 49 42 36 39 52 54 50 58
Physical therapy 69 67 58 57 73 69 67 72
Other3 77 76 67 66 84 77 74 73
Average visit charge per person served
Total $1,462 $1,262 $961 $1,065 $1,355 $1,876 $1,478 $1,395
Nursing care 904 836 652 649 875 1,089 901 817
Home health aide 1,033 756 621 885 919 1,319 1,070 966
Physical therapy 640 564 599 525 641 714 691 650
Other3 369 358 398 459 382 354 371 413
1

Includes rehabilitation and skilled nursing facility-based agencies.

2

Detail does not add to total since persons may receive more than one type of service.

3

Includes speech or occupational therapy, medical social services, and other health disciplines.

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.