The study, by Frank Lichtenberg, PhD, a professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, estimated the nation may have saved as much as $25 billion in total hospital payroll costs in 2008 due to growth of home healthcare over the previous 10 years.
The study found that states with higher growth in home healthcare employment from 1998-2008 tended to see lower growth in hospital employment, ruling out population changes. For every $1,000 increase in home health payroll, hospital payroll fell between $1,542 and $2,315.
Also in that time period, numbers of hospital patients discharged to home healthcare rose from 6.4 percent to 9.9 percent, while hospitals’ average length of stay fell by 4.1 percent, from 4.78 to 4.59 days.
Dr. Lichtenberg said that while some studies have found no correlation between increased home healthcare and reduced hospital costs, those studies looked at a single time period while his study covered more than one time period.
Read the Home Instead release on home healthcare.
Read more coverage of hospitals’ relationship with home health agencies:
– 8 Mistakes Your Hospital is Making Right Now
– System Integration in 2011: Q&A With Gary Campbell, President and CEO of Centura Health
– Planning for an Uncertain Future: Q&A With Gene Michalski, CEO of Michigan’s Beaumont Hospitals
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