Research Institute for Home Care Awards Grant on Medicare Advantage in Home Health
October 3, 2023
Organization’s tenth grant explores who is served by home health in Medicare Advantage plans and utilizations rates for patients with different payers
Washington, DC (October 3, 2023) – The Research Institute for Home Care (the Institute) announced the recipient of the 2023 Home Care Research Grant, awarding Robert J. Rosati, PhD, and Tami Videon, PhD, of VNA Health Group the award for the study, “Examining Home Health Care Receipt and Utilization Patterns Among Traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage (MA) Enrollees.” A milestone tenth grant, this project aims to add evidence-based research and data to the critical understanding of home health patient experience for Medicare Advantage enrollees.
Building off the Institute’s prior work on MA’s role in home health care, the Institute is proud to support the work of Drs. Rosati and Videon which seeks to further understand what types of home health patients are covered by MA and potential visit utilization differences between payer types.
“Medicare Advantage is growing rapidly,” said Jennifer Sheets, Chairman of the Institute’s Board of Directors. “More research into who is being served in home health, and how, within different models and with different payers is essential to creating a future of care at home that provides patient centered care for an aging population. We’re excited for the work of Drs. Rosati and Videon as home health continues to navigate patient care in Medicare Advantage plans.”
“With Medicare Advantage now enrolling more the 50% of Medicare beneficiaries it is extremely important to know if utilization of home health care differs from Traditional Medicare,” said Dr. Robert Rosati. “The Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) provides unique data on patient reported utilization of home health care that can be used to understand the difference between these health plans and whether variation in utilization impacts beneficiaries.”
“By and large, the intensity of home health care services received by MA Medicare Advantage beneficiaries has not been well understood,” added Dr. Tammi Videon. “By measuring the number of visits beneficiaries receive in their home, MCBS provides an exciting opportunity to compare service utilization between traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage beneficiaries.”
Over the past six years, the Institute has been incubating home care research through the one of a kind grant focused solely on advancing and improving care at home. Work funded through the grant is advancing research in policy models such as Home Health Value Based Purchasing, hospital to home transitions, caring for culturally and racially diverse patients, and more.
The 2024 funding cycle will open this fall, with more information available on the Institute’s website (www.researchinstituteforhomecare.org). For more information about the Institute’s grant funding efforts, or to learn more about future grant opportunities, please visit the Institute’s or reach out to the Institute’s Executive Director, Jennifer Schiller, at jschiller@researchinstituteforhomecare.org.
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About Research Institute for Home Care
The Research Institute for Home Care is a non-profit, national consortium of home care providers and organizations. The Institute invests in research and education about home health care and its ability to deliver quality, cost-effective, patient-centered care across the care continuum. The Institute is committed to conducting and sponsoring research and initiatives that demonstrate and enhance the value proposition that home care has to offer patients and the entire U.S. health care system.
About Visiting Nurse Association Health Group
Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) Health Group is the second largest independent, nonprofit provider of home-based health services in New Jersey and Northeast Ohio. Founded over 110 years ago with a mission to care for the community, today VNA Health Group helps individuals and families achieve their best level of health and well-being by providing high quality, compassionate home health, hospice, palliative and community-based care and offers private-pay personal care services. A full range of primary care services are available through the VNACJ Community Health Centers. Currently, VNA Health Group employs nearly 2,500 people and cares for over 150,000 individuals and families annually with a special focus on vulnerable populations such as children, older adults and those with serious and disabling chronic illness. Our unique partnership model with health systems leverages our clinical and technical resources to operate VNA of Central Jersey Home Care and Hospice, Robert Wood Johnson Visiting Nurses, VNA of Englewood, Barnabas Health Home Care and Hospice, Cleveland Clinic Florida Visiting Nurses, Parker Advanced Care Institute and Visiting Physician Services, and Visiting Nurse Association of Ohio. For more information about VNA Health Group and the VNAHG Foundation please call 800.862.3330 and visit vnahg.org