Safer, cheaper and healthier: it's time to look again at home care

Even before the pandemic, home care has been a preferred care model for seniors. As people age, their biggest fear is loss of independence. In a 2007 study in the US, 26% of seniors said that their top fear was the loss of independence. This was followed by 13% who identified moving out of the home and into nursing homes as their top fear. Death was the top concern of only 3% of respondents. The same survey showed that 89% of seniors believed it was very important to continue living at home.

Such feelings are understandable. Living at home ensures that seniors can continue to make decisions about their daily lives and are plugged into their social networks. Care is more easily personalized, and seniors enjoy a higher quality of life and greater personal happiness.

Home care has shown to be cheaper than institutional care, with improved patient outcomes. A 2019 research study that examined 17 million Medicare hospital admissions between 2010 and 2016, comparing home care and admission to a skilled nursing facility, found that home care was associated with average savings of $4,514 in the 60 days after hospitalization. With the use of technology aids such as personal emergency response systems and telemonitoring, costs decrease further, as patient outcomes improve. In a 2016 study of the home health industry, home care providers were asked about the impact of the use of telehealth. The largest impact with telehealth reported by respondents was a 75% increase in overall quality of care, an 63% increase in patient satisfaction, and 63% lower unplanned hospitalizations. https://bit.ly/3wfeIGv