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IPE-83-1 1 (1982-12-07)

handle is hein.gao/gaobabdtk0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 




BY THE US, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE


Report To The Chairman Of The Committee On

Labor And Human Resources

United States Senate





The Elderly Should Benefit From Expanded Home

Health Care But Increasing These Services Will

Not Insure Cost Reductions


Because families and individuals prefer to have a choice
among long-term care options, a larger demand for home
health care is likely throughout the 1980's. The growth in
the size of the disabled elderly population, high government
expenditures for nursing home and hospital care, and a
desire to improve elderly health status all have created
interest in expanding or revising the current home health
care system.

GAO found that when expanded home health care services
were made available to the chronically ill elderly, longevity
and client-reported satisfaction were improved. These
services, however, did not reduce nursing home or hospital
use or total service costs. More research is needed in two
areas in which potentially positive findings are indicated:
the effects of expanded home health care on those elderly
highly at risk of placement in nursing homes and on
hospital admission and readmission rates and lengths of
stay.

The growing public support for wide diversity in long-term
care services indicates that the critical policy issue is not
whether expanded home health care services are less
costlythan institutional care but, rather, how these services
should be organized for maximum efficiency and
effectiveness.

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