Consider medical care at home.

As the enormous task of finding good and affordable care for the aging population looms in our society's immediate future, home-health and medical-care-at-home research may help to allocate resources for the elderly and the disabled. Home health care continues to be one of Medicare's most popular services. Study results support that home health care services preserve function for homebound patients with disabilities. When clinicians join the traditional home health care team, "medical care at home" is created. Emerging research indicates that medical care at home with clinician involvement can increase patient and caregiver satisfaction and result in focused hospitalizations that can decrease the length of hospital stays. This article reviews home health care and describes medical care at home. Two home care cases are presented to suggest how medical care at home may contribute to shorter hospital stays.