Table 1.

Exemplar Questions and Probes from the Semi-Structured Interview Guide

Category	Question	Probe
Visit plan development	Guide me through the process you use to develop the visit plan.	What information do you need in order to decide on the amount and frequency of your nursing visits? How is your plan influenced by visits that patients receive from other disciplines?
	What makes it easy or difficult for you to choose how many visits a patient should receive?	Think of a time when you had difficulty estimating how many visits a patient will need for the nine-week episode. Why was that the case?
Visit plan reevaluation	What situations lead you to change your visit intensity?	How often do you review your visit orders to make any changes? When do you decide to visit a patient more or less frequently?
Patient-level factors	What patient factors do you consider when determining visit intensity?	Think of a recent patient that you admitted to home health. What specific characteristics made you visit them more or less often than other patients?
Nurse-level factors	How does your experience in home health influence your thought process about determining visit intensity?	How has your experience changed or evolved over time in terms of estimating visit patterns?
Agency-level factors	How does your home health agency influence your decision regarding visit intensity?	Tell me about the resources available to support and guide you in determining the best visit patterns for your patients?
		If nurses referred to agency protocols: When does this protocol work well? What are the barriers to following this protocol?
Policy/Payer-level factors	How do different payers influence your visit plan?	Tell me about when you are caring for a straight Medicare patient. Any particular things that you consider as you develop your visit plan? What about other payers? How different is the visit plan for patients with managed care or private health insurance?