As institutionalization rates have decreased, most dementia patients choose to live and receive home care, according to a new study.
The rates of use of home medical care among people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias are higher than those that are not, according to the study, published today in Jama Network Open. However, the number of Medicare beneficiaries with dementia who received home medical attention decreased from 2020.
“Although our data cannot talk about the reason for the reversal in these trends with the Covid-19 Pandemia, the decreasing use of home medical care is consistent with the generalized shortage reports of personnel in the ability of the household, what the capacity to the capacity of the capacity to the capacity of the capacity of the ability of the authors of the ability to ability to ability to ability to ability to ability to ability to ability to ability to ability of the ability of the ability of the authors of capacity.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania studied the traditional Medicare beneficiaries of 68 years or more who used home medical attention from January 1, 2010 to June 30, 2022. The beneficiaries were divided into two groups: those diagnosed with dementia and those without diagnosis.
The main source of this attention is home medical care funded by Medicare, according to the study.
The study found that 28% of people in traditional Medicare had a diagnosis of dementia. Among the beneficiaries who received home medical attention, those with a diagnosis of dementia were more likely to be older women who were eligible to Medicare and Medicaid. Patients with dementia most commonly initiated home medical care, instead of the acute care.
The researchers highlighted a significant general increase in the use of home care during the last decade, since institutional care has decreased both for post-support and long-term attention. This turn has the legs to the pressures to limit Medicare’s expenditure. Alternative payment models aimed at controlling costs can boost the demand for home medical care as a lower cost alternative to residential facilities. In addition, this trend is aligned with patient preferences at age.
“Home medical care was commonly used among people with a diagnosis of dementia, partly for home medical care initiated by the community,” said the researchers. “We notice that the use of medical care in the home in this population increased between 2010 and 2020, but then decreased until mid -2022. On the contrary, home medical care among people without diagnosis of dementia was relatively low and has gradually claimed.”
The study observed surprising changes in the duration of the use of medical care at home, the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, which saw a strong decrease in the start of home care. There was a rebound of the letter at the end of 2020, the use decreased again to mid -2022, particularly among people diagnosed with dementia. In addition, the duration of home medical care episodes increased and remained significantly higher after pandemic compared to pre-pondemic levels.
The researchers identified the shortage of consistent and generalized personnel in home health agencies as a possible reason for the decrease in use, since this shortage hinders the ability to meet demand. In addition, changes in Medicare payments for home medical care, as of January 1, 2020, under the patient -driven grouping model (PDGM), reduction of episodes of 60 to 30 days. This new model also adjusted payments based on clinical characteristics instead of the amount of therapy planned, resulting in a decrease in reimbursement for home medical care initiated by the community.
“Despite the increasing use of the duration of home medical care in this period of time, people can receive incomplete support for their home medical care needs through Medicare, which focuses on the needs of specialized care, or Medicaid, whose strict asset of strict assets and the incentive tests,” “” decrease in home health rates from 2020 need for continuous monitoring of services and overcoming for people with dementia with diidad “”. “” “. “
