OASIS Alert

Two items provide the greatest challenge.

Agencies that have continued to show improvement in reported patient outcomes may finally see their hard work reflected on Home Health Compare.

Good news: Numbers released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in March show the national reference improved by 1 percent in three categories: "Patients who get better at dressing" (66 percent), "Patients who get better at bathing" (61 percent) and "Patients who get better at taking medication correctly (by mouth)" (39 percent). Each of these items has improved by four percentage points since CMS first released the figures in November 2003.

Bad news: No improvement in the national average has occurred since Home Health Compare began in the items "Patients who had to be admitted to the hospital" (28 percent) and "Patients who needed urgent unplanned medical care" (21 percent).

In the same quarter a year ago, eight of 11 items improved, compared with three of eleven items this quarter. By the autumn of 2005, CMS plans to drop four of the current outcomes on the publicly reported Web site and add new items (see Eli's OASIS Alert, Vol. 6, No. 33).