Home Health Clinical Measures

In 1998, the Rhode Island General Assembly passed a law establishing the Rhode Island Health Quality Performance Measurement and Reporting Program. The goal of this legislation is to promote quality in the State’s health care system by developing a performance measurement and reporting program. The legislation mandates the public reporting of information on the quality of care in all licensed Rhode Island health care facilities, including home health agencies.

Clinical Measures

• Currently, the Department of Health is reporting on 11 clinical measures selected by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ( CMS, formerly HCFA).
• These measures were chosen for CMS’s Home Health Quality Initiative project.

How to read the rates

• Each clinical measure is reported as the percentage (rate) of patients in each home health agency that achieved that particular outcome (for example, improvement in ambulation).
• Additionally, a diamond rating appears that indicates whether, for that clinical measure, a home health agency was above the national reference score (◆ ◆ ◆ ), about the same as the national reference score ( ◆ ◆ ), or below the national reference score (◆ ).
• If a home health agency has too few patients (i.e., less than 20) to report on a clinical measure, an “N/A” will appear. If clinical measure information is not collected for this home health agency, an “X” will appear. A home health agency must be Medicare-certified and have been collecting OASIS data for at least 1 year to participate in this initiative.
• For most clinical measures, a high percentage (rate) indicates that more individuals are better off and improved. The opposite is true for the “Any Emergent Care” and “Acute Care Hospitalization” measures. For all clinical measures, the diamond rating system indicates that a home health agency belongs in the top (◆ ◆ ◆ ), middle ( ◆ ◆ ), or lower ( ◆ ) group of home health agencies in Rhode Island for that clinical measure.
• For a description of the clinical measures, click here.
• To access clinical measure rates for home health agencies nationwide, or to compare Rhode Island home health agencies side-by-side, go to Home Health Compare.

What the rates mean

• These clinical measures are not the only reflection of the quality home health agency. Please see Choosing a Home Health Agency for other factors to consider when choosing an agency.
• A one-diamond rating on a clinical measure for one home health agency does not mean that the home health agency is “bad”. It could mean that for that one measure, the home health agency did not perform as well relative to other agencies in Rhode Island. It could also mean that their patient population differs from other home health agencies in Rhode Island. The same is true for a three-diamond rating.
• If you have questions about what these rates mean for your home health agency or the home health agency of a loved one, call Gina Rocha, RN, MPH at the Department of Health, 401-222-2550.

View the clinical measures: September 2003 - August 2004

Home Health agencies are listed alphabetically.

View previous clinical measures:

June 2003 - May 2004