Home health care classification.

This article is the second in a series on the Home Health Care Classification research study conducted at Georgetown University School of Nursing (see the March 1992 CARING). The purpose of the study was to develop a method to assess and classify home health Medicare patients in order to predict their need for nursing and other home care services, including their outcomes of care. To accomplish this goal, data on actual resource use that could be objectively measured were used to predict resource requirements. A third article will provide more detail on the descriptive findings, statistical analyses, and the Preliminary Classification System.