Aging and Home Health

The elderly is the fastest growing population in the United States; indeed, it is estimated that by 2010, people aged 65 years and older will comprise almost 14 percent of the American population (FedStats, 1998). Although most people aged 65 years and older need relatively little medical care, many do have health problems. In this regard, Papalia and Olds (1995) report that about 10 percent of older Americans (most of whom are 85 or older) are ill, disabled and isolated and very much in need of home health care. As the American population continues to gray, the number of older persons needing home health care is going to continue to increase, and so are health care costs (Papalia & Olds, 1995).

A key question that can be asked here is what have been the effects of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 on home health care agencies and what policy can be developed to best deal with these effects? The purpose of this paper is to examine research that has addressed this question.

To provide context to this review, the paper begins with a brief delineation of the home health care needs of older people, the costs of home health care, and the typical home health care services provided to older people. This is followed by a review of literature discussing how the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 has affected home health care and the various policy recommendations made in this literature for

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through an interim payment system. It is further pointed out that the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 authorizes future implementation of a prospective payment system by October, 1999. Fogel asserts that, of themselves, these new methods of payment necessitate some organizational policy change on the part of home health care providers. However, he feels that providers should not restrict their policy focus solely to the newly mandated methods of payment but must also consider the fact that managed care is a rapidly increasing industry. The key policy consideration which Fogel feels must be examined by health care providers is that of cost. The changes mandated by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 and the growing influenced of managed care, as Fogel sees it, means that health care providers must begin to think about the costs and fundings of their services in a much more cost-conscious way. In the past, Fogel states, home health care agencies were much more focused on the quality and the efficiency of service delivery with costs being only a secondary or tertiary consideration. It is stated that now costs must be considered to such an extent that home health care providers should consider changing their organizational mission so
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Budget Act, Health Research, Mosby/Year Book, Bureau Census, health care, Hispanics Hispanics, Term Care, home health, home health care, Freedman Reschovsky, Justice Statistics, NY McGraw-Hill, Papalia Olds, budget act, balanced budget, balanced budget act, act 1997, budget act 1997, health care agencies, care agencies, policy changes, care services, care providers, health care providers, statistical information,
Approximate Word count = 5898
Approximate Pages = 24 (250 words per page)

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