Home care, then and now

What a difference half a century makes . . . or does it, really, if you allow for all those years of rising prices and inflation?

When Montefiore Home Health Agency first opened its doors in June 1947 in Bronx, NY, the cost of a day in the hospital was about $27.

"And in 1947, that was considered outrageous," says Susan Schulmerich, RN, BS, MBA, executive director of Montefiore Home Health Agency. The cost of a home care visit was $2.23.

A home care visit two years after the end of World War II equaled about 10% of the cost of a hospital stay. Schulmerich says at Montefiore the percentage remains about the same, although a day in the hospital is roughly 50 times more now.

And it’s still outrageous.