Market Research Letter: September/October 2011
Providing insights for home care and hospice
September/October 2011
In This Issue
Feature Article: The Changing Roles of Physicians in the Home-Care Referral Process
Metrics Matter: What Impact Will New Medicare Regulations for Therapy-Intensive Episodes Have on Your Home Health Market?
Ask the Home Care Data Guru: How do I measure market share in the future?
Who are the key decision makers in home-care referral today? In this month’s feature, we discuss the changing roles of physicians in the home-care referral process and how you can use this information to increase referrals in your market. Plus, we take a look at the impact of new Medicare regulations for therapy-intensive episodes in Metrics Matter.
Rich Chesney
President, Healthcare Market Resources, Inc.
Feature Article: “The Changing Roles of Physicians in the Home-Care Referral Process”
There has been a shift in the key decision makers in home-care referral, as we recently discussed in a previous article. In this month’s feature, we help you understand the changing roles of physicians in the home-care referral process and how you can use that information to capture more referrals in your market. Read more.
Metrics Matter: “What Impact Will New Medicare Regulations for Therapy-Intensive Episodes Have on Your Home Health Market?”
Following the change in Medicare reimbursement methodology in 2008, a higher percentage of therapy-intensive episodes occurred. In response to this shift — and in an attempt to remain budget neutral — Medicare recently lowered the case weights on these episodes for 2012, while raising the case weights on less intensive patients. Will the impact of this latest change in Medicare regulations be uniform for all home health markets? To answer that question, this month’s metric compares the average number of therapy visits per episode on a statewide basis. Read more.
Ask the Home Care Data Guru
Looking for some hard-to-find data? In Ask the Home Care Data Guru, we share questions from our subscribers – and our answers. Send us your question today!
Q: How do I measure market share in the future?
A: Market share can be measured in numerous ways in home care — patients served, billing units (days and episodes), admissions/discharges, and revenue. The types of patients a home-care agency tries to attract and how it manages those patients can impact its market share in relation to a given metric. Going forward, legislative and regulatory efforts may also impact future market share. Read the entire answer.