Research

The State of the Homecare Industry in Pennsylvania

• According to a University of Pittsburgh report, The State of the Homecare Industry in Pennsylvania: Bringing Care Home, Pennsylvania’s homecare industry cares for more than 190,000 clients each week – more than the total number of licensed beds in all the hospitals and nursing homes in the state. “But until personal care in the home is paid for by Medicaid for all eligible Pennsylvanians as it is for nursing home care, Pennsylvania will continue to struggle to gain a balanced long-term care system,” the report’s authors said.

Vicki Hoak, Executive Director of the The Pennsylvania Homecare Association (PHA) which commissioned the report noted that, “This report acknowledges this industry’s efforts to accommodate consumers’ preference to have care and support brought to them – in their homes.”

Choosing a Long-Term Care Insurance Policy

• Choosing a Long-Term Care Insurance Policy: Understanding and Improving the Process - This is a part in a series of papers in the Retirement Security Project supported by a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Evidence-Based Research

• PHA is partnering with the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and Medicine on a project to examine the degree to which contact with a patient in the home can reduce the likelihood of being admitted to the hospital or emergency department as well as how much it might improve self care knowledge and behavior related to their chronic illness. The research uses state-of-science protocols for the management of Diabetes and Congestive Heart Failure to guide the care of your patient in the home.

Telehealth Research

• Telehealth Research Summary - This summary was prepared by PHA for the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare in January 2005 to demonstrate cost savings through the use of telehealth in homecare.
  
• The Financial Viability of Telehealth & Telehealth's Impact of Home Health Nurses -- This is the evaluation report from PHA's third year of telehealth research funded by a Congressional Appropriation sponsored by Senator Arlen Specter. The third year of research was used to determine how telehealth impacts home health agencies in terms of workforce issues. In addition, a special focus was placed on the financial impact of telehealth on home health agencies.
  
• The Impact of Telehealth on Nursing Workload and Retention -- This is the evaluation report from PHA's second year of telehealth research funded by a Congressional Appropriation sponsored by Senator Arlen Specter. The second year of research continued to look at nursing recruitment and retention but expands the study to also include how telehealth impacts nurse workload.
  
• The Impact of Telehealth on Nursing Retention and Recruitment in Homecare -- This is the evaluation report from PHA's first year of telehealth research funded by a Congressional Appropriation sponsored by Senator Arlen Specter. The first year of research focused on how telehealth impacts nursing recruitment and retention.