Table 2. Episodes, by Agency Urban or Rural Location and Measure of Utilization: Medicare Home Health Care Utilization, 1992.
| Measure of Utilization | Urban (n = 90,066) |
Rural (n = 21,786) |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|||
| Mean | Median | Mean | Median | |
| Mean Length of Episode (Days) |
*160.6 (33.8) |
150.4 |
*177.2 (38.9) |
168.6 |
| Percent of Episodes, Span of Service 120 Days or Fewer |
*72.8 (15.4) |
76.1 |
*66.1 (16.1) |
68.4 |
| Actual Span of Service, Episodes 120 Days or Fewer |
*42.4 (8.0) |
42.5 |
*43.5 (8.1) |
43.8 |
| Percent of Episodes Exceeding 120 Days |
*27.2 (15.4) |
23.9 |
*33.9 (16.1) |
31.6 |
| Actual Span of Service, Episodes Exceeding 120 Days |
*248.5 (55.0) |
249.5 |
*272.0 (54.0) |
276.8 |
| Mean Visits Per Total Episode, All Episodes |
*49.0 (82.6) |
21.0 |
*57.1 (92.7) |
22.0 |
| Mean Visits During First 120 Days, All Episodes | 32.8 (37.4) |
20.0 | 32.4 (36.7) |
19.0 |
| Mean Visits After First 120 Days, All Episodes |
*16.3 (56.6) |
0.0 |
*24.7 (66.1) |
0.0 |
| Reimbursement Per Total Episode, All Episodes | $2,966 ($6,368) |
$1,377 | $2,929 ($467) |
$1,224 |
| Reimbursement During First 120 Days, All Episodes |
*$2,030 ($4,768) |
$1,259 |
*1,696 ($1,910) |
$1,045 |
| Reimbursement After First 120 Days, All Episodes |
*$936 ($3,264) |
$0 |
*$1,232 ($3,335) |
$0 |
*
Statistically significant at .05 level.
NOTES: Numbers In parentheses are standard deviations of the means. Excludes home health agencies that were certified, terminated, or delivered 50 or fewer visits during the period and 42 agencies whose urban/rural status could not be determined from the Provider of Service file. Total number of episodes is 111,852.
SOURCE: Medicare home health agency claims for all episodes beginning in 1992 for a 5-percent sample of beneficiaries extracted from the Health Care Financing Administration's Standard Analytic File system.