The United Hospital Fund Releases Report on Positive Impact of Home Health Care
The report explores patients’ refusals of Home Health Care Services, on the under-examined issue of patients who refuse home health care services when they are discharged from inpatient care.
Such refusals can lead to higher rates of readmission to the hospital and a lower quality of life. Although information on this complex issue is limited, a study by Kathyrn Bowles, PhD, of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York and the University of Pennsylvania, found that 28 percent of 495 eligible patients refused home health care services. Their reasons ranged from concerns about finances, to a fear of losing control and privacy, to the belief that family members could manage needed care on their own. Those who refused home health care were twice as likely as those who accepted to be readmitted to the hospital within 30 or 60 days...