Table 1.
Characteristics of Community-Dwelling Older Adults Receiving Medicare Home Health between 2011-2016*
| % (n) or Mean ± SE | |
|---|---|
| Identified family caregiver training needs:† | |
| Household chores | 12.7% (126) |
| Self-care | 26.1% (249) |
| Medication management | 27.7% (230) |
| Patient supervision | 19.2% (136) |
| Proportion receiving any visits and average number of visits, by visit type: | |
| Total visits | n/a, 16.9 ± 0.47 |
| Nursing visits | 90.2% (1,091), 7.2 ± 0.26 |
| Therapy visits | 77.6% (945), 8.1 ± 0.32 |
| Aide visits | 17.3% (233), 1.6 ± 0.17 |
| Training visits | 32.2% (404), 1.4 ± 0.14 |
| Older Adult Characteristics | |
| Age | 79.8 ± 0.29 |
| Male sex | 40.5% (468) |
| Non-white race | 19.6% (401) |
| Medicaid-enrolled | 16.7% (250) |
| Prior to Home Health | |
| Number of caregivers | 1.6 ± 0.06 |
| Receives caregiver help with medication management | 16.8% (260) |
| Receives caregiver help with: | |
| None | 40.1% (421) |
| Household chores | 27.1% (318) |
| Mobility | 7.4% (109) |
| Self-care | 25.4% (369) |
| Lives alone | 34.8% (438) |
| Fallen in past year | 44.6% (547) |
| Self-rated health: | |
| Excellent/very good | 26.4% (285) |
| Good | 31.7% (381) |
| Fair/poor | 41.9% (551) |
| During Home Health | |
| Lives alone | 32.8% (400) |
| Post-acute | 71.0% (794) |
| Receives any respiratory therapy | 10.5% (137) |
| Receives any IV therapy | 2.1% (24) |
| Clinical severity | |
| Low | 26.5% (331) |
| Moderate | 41.1% (485) |
| High | 32.4% (401) |
| Functional impairment | |
| None/low | 17.2% (190) |
| Moderate | 62.4% (762) |
| High | 20.4% (265) |
| Cognitive impairment | 44.1% (605) |
| Pressure ulcer | 3.0% (46) |
| Wound | 25.8% (253) |
| Home Health Provider Characteristics | |
| Nonprofit | 46.2% (455) |
Data refer to the index home health episode only, and are drawn from National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) and linked Outcomes and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) and Medicare claims data for 1,217 (weighted n=5,870,905) Medicare beneficiaries receiving family caregiver assistance during a home health episode between 2011-2016. Percentages are weighted to account for NHATS survey design and to produce nationally representative estimates.
Need for training among family caregivers assisting with each activity during the Medicare home health episode. Family caregiver need for training is identified and reported by the home health clinician during the initial admission visit.