Hospital Readmissions in Medicare Home Healthcare: What Are the Leading Risk Indicators?

A large sample of all 2011 home healthcare users in traditional Medicare was analyzed to identify the risk indicators at start-of-care that were associated with the highest probability of readmission (N = 597,493). Thirty-five patient characteristics found in Outcome and Assessment Information Set, claims history, or other administrative data were associated with a 30-day readmission risk 30% to 100% above the average in the sample. Most of these characteristics were associated with a 30-day readmission probability of approximately 1 in 5, and several were associated with a readmission probability approaching 1 in 10 during the first 7 days. A majority of the high-risk characteristics were uncommon, and they tended not to occur together, suggesting they can be useful flags for clinicians in prioritizing cases to reduce readmissions. Readmission risk grows most quickly early in the episode of care; typically one-third of the readmissions in the first 30 days occurred by the end of 7 days. High-risk markers at 7 and 30 days were substantially the same, illustrating the importance of the early days at home in influencing the 30-day outcome. A variety of domains and characteristics are represented among the highest-risk markers, suggesting challenges to home healthcare clinicians in maintaining the knowledge and skills needed to address readmission prevention. We suggest possible responses to this problem as strategies to consider, and also discuss implications for assessment practices in home healthcare.

Medicare Outpatient Physical Therapy Expenditures Vary by Diagnosis and Functional Mobility.

BACKGROUND: Clinical characteristics driving variations in Medicare outpatient physical therapy expenditures are inadequately understood. OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this study were to examine variations in annual outpatient physical therapy expenditures of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries by primary diagnosis and baseline functional mobility, and to assess whether case mix groups based on primary diagnosis and functional mobility scores would be useful for expenditure differentiation. DESIGN: This was an observational, longitudinal study. METHODS: Volunteer providers in community settings participated in data collection with Continuity Assessment Record and Evaluation-Community (CARE-C) assessments for Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries. Annual outpatient physical therapy expenditures were calculated using allowed charges on Medicare claims; primary diagnosis and baseline functional mobility were obtained from CARE-C assessments. Whether annual expenditures varied significantly across primary diagnosis groups and within diagnosis groups by functional mobility was examined. RESULTS: Data for 4210 patients (mean [SD] age = 72.9 [9.9] years; 64.6% women) from 127 providers were included. Mean expenditures differed significantly across 12 primary diagnosis groups created from CARE-C clinician-reported diagnoses (F = 12.73; df = 11). Twenty-five pairwise differences in 66 pairwise diagnosis group comparisons were statistically significant. Within 8 diagnosis groups, expenditures were significantly higher for low-mobility subgroups than for high-mobility subgroups; borderline significance was achieved for 1 diagnosis group. LIMITATIONS: The small convenience sample limited the statistical power and the generalizability of the results. CONCLUSIONS: Significant variations in physical therapy expenditures based on primary diagnosis and baseline functional mobility support the use of these variables in predicting outpatient physical therapy expenditures. Although Medicare's annual therapy spending cap was repealed effective January 2018, the data from this study provide an initial foundation to inform any future policy efforts, such as targeted medical review, risk-adjusted therapy payments, or case mix groups as potential payment alternatives. Additional research with larger samples is needed to further develop and test case mix groups and improve generalizability to the national population. Refined case mix groups could also help providers prognosticate physical therapy expenditures based on patient profiles.

Home Health Agency Characteristics and Quality Outcomes for Medicare Beneficiaries With Rehabilitation-Sensitive Conditions.

OBJECTIVE: To examine associations between organizational characteristics of home health agencies (eg, profit status, rehabilitation therapy staffing model, size, and rurality) and quality outcomes in Medicare beneficiaries with rehabilitation-sensitive conditions, conditions for which occupational, physical, and/or speech therapy have the potential to improve functioning, prevent or slow substantial decline in functioning, or increase ability to remain at home safely. DESIGN: Retrospective analysis. SETTING: Home health agencies. PARTICIPANTS: Fee-for-service beneficiaries (N=1,006,562) admitted to 9250 Medicare-certified home health agencies in 2009. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Institutional admission during home health care, community discharge, and institutional admission within 30 days of discharge. RESULTS: Nonprofit (vs for-profit) home health agencies were more likely to discharge beneficiaries to the community (odds ratio [OR], 1.23; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.13-1.33) and less likely to have beneficiaries incur institutional admissions within 30 days of discharge (OR, .93; 95% CI, .88-.97). Agencies in rural (vs urban) counties were less likely to discharge patients to the community (OR, .83; 95% CI, .77-.90) and more likely to have beneficiaries incur institutional admissions during home health (OR, 1.24; 95% CI, 1.18-1.30) and within 30 days of discharge (OR, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.10-1.22). Agencies with contract (vs in-house) therapy staff were less likely to discharge beneficiaries to the community (OR, .79, 95% CI, .70-.91) and more likely to have beneficiaries incur institutional admissions during home health (OR, 1.09; 95% CI, 1.03-1.15) and within 30 days of discharge (OR, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.07-1.28). CONCLUSIONS: As payers continue to test and implement reimbursement mechanisms that seek to reward value over volume of services, greater attention should be paid to organizational factors that facilitate better coordinated, higher quality home health care for beneficiaries who may benefit from rehabilitation.

One-Year Outcomes of Diabetes Self-Management Training Among Medicare Beneficiaries Newly Diagnosed With Diabetes.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes is highly prevalent among Medicare beneficiaries, resulting in costly health care utilization. Strategies to improve health outcomes, such as disease self-management, could help reduce the increasing burden of diabetes. OBJECTIVES: Short-term benefits of diabetes self-management training (DSMT) are established; however, longer-term impacts among Medicare beneficiaries are unknown. RESEARCH DESIGN: Claims-based observational study with 1-year follow-up beginning 6 months after diabetes diagnosis. SUBJECTS: Twenty percent random sample of Medicare beneficiaries newly diagnosed with diabetes during 2009-2011 who used DSMT (N=14,680), matched to a nonuser comparison group. MEASURES: We compared health service utilization and costs between DSMT users and nonusers. Health service utilization included any utilization of the hospital or emergency department (ED) and any hospitalizations due to diabetes-related ambulatory care sensitive conditions as well as the number of hospitalizations and ED visits within the follow-up year. Costs included all Medicare Parts A and B expenditures. RESULTS: Multivariate regression results found that DSMT users had 14% reduced odds of any hospitalization, lower numbers of hospitalizations and ED visits (approximately 3 fewer per 100 for each), and approximately $830 lower Medicare expenditures (95% CI, -$1198, -$470) compared with nonusers. Odds of any hospitalization due to diabetes-related ambulatory care sensitive conditions and any ED visit were lower for DSMT users compared with nonusers, but the reductions were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Findings demonstrate benefits from DSMT use, including lower health service utilization and costs. The low cost of DSMT relative to the reduction in Medicare expenditures highlights an opportunity to reduce the burden of diabetes on both individuals and the health care system.

Episode-Based Payment for the Medicare Outpatient Therapy Benefit.

OBJECTIVE: To conduct an analysis of Medicare outpatient therapy episodes of care and associated payment implications. DESIGN: Retrospective observational design using Medicare claims data. To descriptively analyze the composition of outpatient therapy episodes, both variable- and fixed-length episodes are explored. The variable-length episode definition organizes services into episodes based on the time pattern of therapy service utilization, using 60-day clean periods. Fixed-length episodes are also examined, beginning with the first therapy utilization in calendar year 2010 and extending 30, 60, and 90 days. SETTING: The study is focused on community-dwelling users of outpatient therapy. PARTICIPANTS: The sample includes all Medicare patients who used outpatient therapy beginning at any point in 2010. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Mean episode payments and episode lengths in calendar days. RESULTS: Variable-length outpatient therapy episodes have a mean payment of $881. On average, outpatient therapy episodes last 43 calendar days. Mean therapy durations for the 30-, 60-, and 90-day fixed-length episodes are 20, 31, and 38 calendar days, respectively. The 30-, 60-, and 90-day fixed-length initial episodes account for 40%, 55%, and 63%, respectively, of total Medicare payments. Simulations of episode-based payment illustrate the difficulty of avoiding a large number of substantial underpayments, because of the right-skewed distribution of total actual payments. CONCLUSIONS: A strength of episode payment is that it reduces cost and potentially wasteful variation within episodes. Given the substantial variation in therapy episode expenditures, absent improvements in available data and in predictive information, a pure lump sum episode payment would result in substantial revenue changes for many episodes. Additional data are needed to better explain the wide variation in episode expenditures.

Refinements of the Medicare Outpatient Therapy Annual Expenditure Limit Policy.

BACKGROUND: A Medicare beneficiary's annual outpatient therapy expenditures that exceed congressionally established caps are subject to extra documentation and review requirements. In 2011, these caps were $1,870 for physical therapy and speech-language pathology combined and $1,870 for occupational therapy separately. OBJECTIVE: This article considers the distributional effects of replacing current cap policy with equal caps by therapy discipline (physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology) or a single combined cap, and risk adjusting the physical therapy cap using beneficiary characteristics and functional status. METHODS: Alternative therapy cap policies are simulated with 100% Medicare claims for 2011 therapy users (N=4.9 million). A risk-adjusted cap for annual physical therapy expenditures is calculated from a quantile regression estimated on a sample of physical therapy users with diagnoses and clinician assessments of functional ability merged to their claims (n=4,210). RESULTS: Equal discipline-specific caps of $1,710 each for physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology result in the same aggregate Medicare expenditures above the caps as 2011 cap policy. A single combined-disciplines cap of $2,485 also results in the same aggregate expenditures above the cap. Risk adjustment varies the physical therapy cap by as much as 5 to 1 across beneficiaries and equalizes the probability of exceeding the physical therapy cap across diagnosis and functional status groups. LIMITATIONS: One limitation of the study was the assumption of no behavioral response on the part of beneficiaries or providers to a change in cap policy. Additionally, analysis of risk adjusting the therapy caps was limited by sample size. CONCLUSIONS: Equal discipline-specific caps for physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology are more equitable to high users of both physical therapy and speech-language pathology than current cap policy. Separating the physical therapy and speech-language pathology caps is a change that policy makers could consider. Risk adjustment of the therapy caps is a first step in incorporating beneficiary need for services into Medicare outpatient therapy payment policy.

Use of Medicare's Diabetes Self-Management Training Benefit.

Medicare began reimbursing for outpatient diabetes self-management training (DSMT) in 2000; however, little is known about program utilization. Individuals diagnosed with diabetes in 2010 were identified from a 20% random selection of the Medicare fee-for-service population (N = 110,064). Medicare administrative and claims files were used to determine DSMT utilization. Multivariate logistic regression analyses evaluated the association of demographic, health status, and provider availability factors with DSMT utilization. Approximately 5% of Medicare beneficiaries with newly diagnosed diabetes used DSMT services. The adjusted odds of any utilization were lower among men compared with women, older individuals compared with younger, non-Whites compared with Whites, people dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid compared with nondual eligibles, and patients with comorbidities compared with individuals without those conditions. Additionally, the adjusted odds of utilizing DSMT increased as the availability of providers who offered DSMT services increased and varied by Census region. Utilization of DSMT among Medicare beneficiaries with newly diagnosed diabetes is low. There appear to be marked disparities in access to DSMT by demographic and health status factors and availability of DSMT providers. In light of the increasing prevalence of diabetes, future research should identify barriers to DSMT access, describe DSMT providers, and explore the impact of DSMT services. With preventive services being increasingly covered by insurers, the low utilization of DSMT, a preventive service benefit that has existed for almost 15 years, highlights the challenges that may be encountered to achieve widespread dissemination and uptake of the new services.

Physician evaluation and management of Medicare home health patients.

OBJECTIVE: The Medicare home health benefit is predicated on physician referral and involvement. In this study, we investigated (1) the frequency and (2) implications of home health patients' evaluation and management by community physicians. METHODS: The 2005 and 2006 Medicare 5% Standard Analytic Files were linked to the Outcome and Assessment Information Set to examine physician visits among 74,462 fee-for service Medicare beneficiaries with a home health episode of care between July 1, 2005 and December 1, 2006. We examined whether receipt of community physician evaluation and management visits by home health patients was associated with subsequent discharge disposition, comparing discharge from the agency as opposed to inpatient facility transfer. RESULTS: More than one-third (34.6%) of patients did not receive physician evaluation and management visits during their home health episode. Home health patients most commonly incurred physician office visits exclusively (51.5%) or in combination with consultations (6.8%) or house call visits (2.2%), as well as house call visits exclusively (3.3%). Patients who incurred physician evaluation and management visits during their episode of care were more likely to be discharged from home health agencies than their counterparts who did not (77.9% vs. 70.6%, respectively). The association between physician visits and home health discharge was statistically significant in both simple regression models (odds ratio = 1.47; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.42-1.52) and in multivariate analyses accounting for socio-demographic factors, health, and functioning (odds ratio = 1.45; 95% CI, 1.40-1.51). CONCLUSIONS: More systematic integration of physicians in home care processes may reduce subsequent hospital and other inpatient facility use among home health patients.

Medicare home health patients' transitions through acute and post-acute care settings.

OBJECTIVES: To describe Medicare beneficiaries' transitions through home health care within the context of other acute and post-acute services, and to examine agreement between administrative claims and Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) measures of health services use. DATA SOURCES: The 2004 Chronic Condition Data Warehouse, including the Medicare 5% standard analytic file and OASIS. Study participants were 66,510 Medicare beneficiaries with a home health start of care assessment between January 15, 2004 and July 15, 2004 who were discharged before December 1, 2004. RESULTS: Home health patients frequently incurred acute and post-acute services during the 14 days preceding admission and the 30 days after discharge, predominantly in acute hospitals. Substantial differences were observed in beneficiaries' health and functioning across living arrangements; patients living alone were less medically complex, less disabled, and received less assistance than those living with others. Agreement between OASIS and administrative claims was uniformly low with regard to inpatient hospital, inpatient rehabilitation, and skilled nursing facility use in the 14 days preceding the home health start of care. Agreement between OASIS and administrative claims was uneven for the period after discharge from home health care; it was determined to be near perfect for inpatient hospital (kappa = 0.85), but was lower for inpatient rehabilitation and hospice (kappa = 0.22 and 0.10, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Findings reinforce the potential merit of patient-specific rather than setting-specific measures of quality, but underscore practical challenges to constructing measures that span data sources and episodes of care.

Trends in Medicare home health care use: 1997-2001.

The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 mandated a major overhaul in Medicare payment for home health care with an interim payment system (IPS) preceding a prospective payment system (PPS). This study extends an earlier analysis of the impact of the IPS to determine whether home health use and spendingtrends changed after the introduction of the PPS. The rapid decline in the incidence of use and visits per user under the IPS slowed in its final year and then picked up again in the first year of the PPS. In addition, average payment per visit increased sharply under the PPS. Little is known about the impact of continued large reductions in home health services since 1999.

A national survey of primary care physicians' colorectal cancer screening recommendations and practices.

BACKGROUND: National data on providers' colorectal cancer (CRC) screening knowledge, attitudes, and practices are sparse. This study assessed primary care physicians' (PCPs') beliefs about the effectiveness of CRC screening, their recommendations for screening, their perceptions of the influence of published guidelines on their CRC screening recommendations, and how they conduct CRC screening in their clinical practices. METHODS: A questionnaire was administered to a nationally representative sample of practicing PCPs. Of 1718 eligible physicians, 1235 (72%) responded. RESULTS: Only 2% of PCPs said they did not recommend CRC screening. Over 80% indicated that they most often recommend CRC screening with fecal occult blood testing and/or flexible sigmoidoscopy, although colonoscopy was perceived as the more effective screening modality. Nearly two-thirds of obstetrician/gynecologists and one-fourth of other practitioners reported conducting fecal occult blood testing exclusively by digital rectal exam. Only 29% of PCPs said they perform sigmoidoscopy. Estimated volumes of ordering, performing, or referring for CRC screening were low, and <20% reported that three-fourths or more of their older patients were up to date with CRC screening as recommended by the physician. Many PCPs reported recommending CRC screening at nonstandard starting ages or too-frequent intervals. CONCLUSIONS: Awareness of CRC screening among PCPs in the United States is high. However, knowledge gaps about the timing and frequency of screening and suboptimal screening delivery were evident.