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. 2002 Winter;24(2):33–55.

Table 3. Percent Distribution of Home Health Users and Visits, by Number of Visits and Episode Length: Fiscal Years 1997 and 1999.

Visit and Episode Distribution of Users Change in Number of Users1 Distribution of Visits
1997 1999 1997 1999
Percent
Total 100 100 -21 100 100
Number of Visits
1-4 10 13 7 (4) 1
5-9 13 17 6 1 3
10-49 42 47 -11 14 26
50-99 14 12 -33 14 19
100-199 11 7 -52 21 21
200 or More 10 4 -70 49 30
Number of Episodes2
1 90 88 -22 90 85
2 9 11 -9 9 14
3 or More 1 1 1 1 1
Observed Episode Length3
7 or Less Days 4 6 14 (4) (4)
8-30 Days 19 29 19 3 7
31-60 Days 22 25 -9 7 14
61-120 Days 16 16 -19 10 16
121-180 Days 8 7 -33 8 10
181 or More Days 31 17 -57 71 53
1

To adjust for change in Medicare enrollment between 1997 and 1999, calculation is based on the estimated number of users in 1997 if enrollment were at 1999 level.

2

An episode's start and end are each defined by a 60-day gap in home health services. Episodes must overlap with designated year, but need not begin or end within it.

3

Each user and all of his or her visits in the year are assigned to one category based on the person's longest episode that year. Categories are based on episodes of “known” and “unknown” length. Episodes of known length are those for which the beginning and end are both observed in the data, while episodes of unknown length are those for which the beginning or end (or both) falls outside the data observation period. For each fiscal year, the observation period was from 9 months before the year began to 3 months after the year's end.

4

Less than 0.5 percent.

SOURCE: Komisar, H. L., Georgetown University, 2002.