Metrics Matter: The Most Important Diagnostic Categories for Home Health Referrals

While patients are admitted to hospitals for a multitude of conditions, the key issue for home care agencies is determining which diagnostic categories are most important for home health referrals. Since discharge-planning resources are typically organized by clinical area, this month’s metric—Medicare Hospital Discharges to Home Care by Diagnostic Category—can help indicate which discharge planners likely offer the most potential for referring cases to your home care. Additionally, if your agency is considering creating specialty programs, this metric can help you determine the disease areas you should focus on.

Pie Chart of Medicare Hospital Referrals to Home Care by Disease Category. HealthMR is a specialist in Home Health Care Market Research

Based on 2008 Medicare hospital claims data, this Medicare Hospital Discharges to Home Care by Diagnostic Category metric chart demonstrates:

  • Cardiac, musculoskeletal, respiratory, and digestive diseases and disorders are the top 4 diagnostic categories, accounting for 65% of home care referrals and 62% of all hospital admissions.
  • Cardiac patients are the leading source of home care referrals, representing nearly 1 in 4 home care-bound patients.
  • Although lower extremity joint replacements are the single most frequent source of home care referrals, musculoskeletal diseases and disorders make up second largest category, accounting for 16.1% of home care referrals.
  • Respiratory diseases and disorders represent the third largest diagnostic category with 15.6% of home care referrals.
  • Digestive cases round out the top 4 diagnostic categories, resulting in 9.4% of home care referrals.

You can find this important metric data for each hospital in your local service area in Healthcare Market Resources’ Medicare Hospital Discharges by DRG Report. In addition to diagnostic-related group data, this report also provides you with the percentage of cases referred to home care. Click here or call 215-657-7373 to learn more about how you can use the Medicare Hospital Discharges to Home Care by Diagnostic Category metric to help grow your home health referrals.