The Elderly Should Benefit From Expanded Home Health Care but Increasing These Services Will Not Insure Cost Reductions
IPE-83-1: Published: Dec 7, 1982. Publicly Released: Dec 7, 1982.
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In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed evaluations of projects offering a wide range of community-based health care services to determine the cost and effectiveness of expanded home health care service.
In examining nursing home use, GAO found that service availability did not conclusively reduce the use of nursing homes among the elderly and that more work is needed to better define and identify individuals for whom nursing home use can be reasonably decreased. Recent studies indicate that the effect of expanded home health care on hospital use is still unclear. GAO has found evidence that individuals who receive expanded home health care services live longer than others who use the currently available health services, and they report feeling more satisfied with their lives. However, the actual effect of home health care services on clients is not clear because of methodological problems in evaluations. GAO found that, while individual nursing home or hospital costs may have been reduced, total health care costs have increased. This is partly because a new population is being served that had not used similar health care services before and because of the costs of the expanded services, including administrative and monitoring costs. GAO found inconclusiveness and many conflicts in the findings of existing evaluations of home health care services which arose from methodological problems in research. However, new research efforts may avoid many of these problems because of their design. It appears that expanded home health care is not likely to reduce overall health care costs. However, other options may be available.
Jan 28, 2021
COVID-19:
Critical Vaccine Distribution, Supply Chain, Program Integrity, and Other Challenges Require Focused Federal AttentionGAO-21-265: Published: Jan 28, 2021. Publicly Released: Jan 28, 2021.
Jan 21, 2021
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Rural Hospital Closures:
Affected Residents Had Reduced Access to Health Care ServicesGAO-21-93: Published: Dec 22, 2020. Publicly Released: Jan 21, 2021. -
Health Care Funding:
Federal Obligations to and Funds Received by Certain Organizations Involved in Health-Related Services, 2016 through 2018GAO-21-188R: Published: Dec 21, 2020. Publicly Released: Jan 21, 2021.
Jan 14, 2021
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Medicaid:
Data Completeness and Accuracy Have Improved, Though Not All Standards Have Been MetGAO-21-196: Published: Jan 14, 2021. Publicly Released: Jan 14, 2021.
Jan 4, 2021
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Medicare Severe Wound Care:
Spending Declines May Reflect Site of Care Changes; Limited Information Is Available on QualityGAO-21-92: Published: Jan 4, 2021. Publicly Released: Jan 4, 2021.
Dec 22, 2020
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Defense Health Care:
Efforts to Ensure Beneficiaries Access Specialty Care and Receive Timely and Effective CareGAO-21-143: Published: Dec 22, 2020. Publicly Released: Dec 22, 2020.
Dec 16, 2020
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Medicaid Long-Term Services and Supports:
Access and Quality Problems in Managed Care Demand Improved OversightGAO-21-49: Published: Nov 16, 2020. Publicly Released: Dec 16, 2020.
Dec 14, 2020
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Drug Pricing Program:
HHS Uses Multiple Mechanisms to Help Ensure Compliance with 340B RequirementsGAO-21-107: Published: Dec 14, 2020. Publicly Released: Dec 14, 2020. -
Substance Use Disorder:
Reliable Data Needed for Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant ProgramGAO-21-58: Published: Dec 14, 2020. Publicly Released: Dec 14, 2020.
Dec 10, 2020
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Indian Health Service:
Actions Needed to Improve Oversight of Provider Misconduct and Substandard PerformanceGAO-21-97: Published: Dec 10, 2020. Publicly Released: Dec 10, 2020.
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