Development of the National Home and Hospice Care Survey

More and more, society is turning to home health care as a means of providing individuals and families with alternatives for solving long-term health care needs.

To address the rapid growth in the number of home health agencies and hospices throughout the United States, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), in 1992 established the National Home and Hospice Care Survey (NHHCS). The report, "Development of the National Home and Hospice Care Survey," provides discussions on the need for developing a survey to address this new growing trend of home health care services.

Information collected through the NHHCS includes national baseline data on the characteristics of hospices and home health agencies in relation to the patients they serve and the type of staff they employ. Information is also collected on Medicare and Medicaid certification, on charges to patients by hospice and home health agencies, and on sources of payment for services.

Lastly, information about patient's functional status and diagnosis while receiving home and hospice care is collected.

The report also contains detailed discussions on the sampling frame and sample selection, the data collection instruments, and data collection methods.

Keywords: home health care, hospices, home health agencies

This page last reviewed January 11, 2007