Medicaid has required states to include home health services since 1970, and allows states to cover other optional home services such as durable medical equipment. Federal requirement for Medicare HMOs have mandated provision of home heath services, supplies and equipment since 1973. The Case for Home Care - Trends in technology and advances in care such as home infusion therapy have enabled patients to receive appropriate and safe therapies in the home which were not possible a decade ago. Hospitals are discharging patients earlier and with more intensive care needs as a result of the 1983 Medicare hospital prospective payment system. This change has made home care a necessity, not an option.
Home care is cost effective.
Home care is part of the solution to the health care cost problem, because it prevents more expensive stays in institutional settings. When sick, patients should receive treatment and therapies at the lowest-cost medically appropriate site. Using home care, patients can live at home, be mobile and remain productive members of society. Home care has created jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistic Monthly Labor Review, home health care has created 345,000 job since 1988.