Abstract
This research aims to increase transparency and simplify consumer decision-making regarding the selection of a home health care provider. Currently, quality information on home health care providers is fragmented and difficult to interpret. In this study, a quality-ranking model is developed by selecting multidimensional quality indicators across multiple sources and respective weights using expert judgment. Given the weights and providers' performance on each quality indicator, a composite score is calculated that summarizes a home health care provider's overall quality level. This quality information empowers consumers to narrow their search and select the best-performing, most efficient providers.
Notes
1Case mix weight is a numeric score that reflects the amount of treatment a patient needs, and it directly affects the amount of payment. A weight of 2 will require twice as much treatment/resources as a weight of 1.
2An episode refers to a 60-day treatment period and unit of payment from Medicare, which is renewable.