The new trickle-down theory: Home care held accountable
Functional status outcomes to be measured
The Health Care Financing Administration intends to hold managed care plans accountable for both physical and mental functional status outcomes that Medicare beneficiaries have, according to Jeffrey Kang, in the office of managed care at HCFA. And that means this accountability will trickle down to home care.
Under the Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set, (HEDIS) 3.0, the health of seniors measure "is a true outcomes measure that looks at a plan’s ability to improve or preserve functional status, both mental and physical," says Kang.
A lot of home care is about preserving or improving functional status, he says. "What this means for the home care community is: As plans understand that HCFA is going to care about and negotiate contracts in and around functional status and those outcomes, they will look at the home health benefit, not only from the cost side cutting costs but they will begin to look at what kinds of outcomes they’re getting. This functional status measure will actually begin to get many of the home care issues on the table for many of the managed care plans."
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