Home Health Agency Clinical Performance

The information below provides information to help you understand the home health agency clinical performance reports. There are also more technical details available. When looking at the clinical performance measures, however, remember that they are not the only reflection of home health agencies’ quality. The Department of Health also provides information about choosing a home health agency.

How to read the rates

• Home health agencies must be Medicare-certified and have been collecting the quarterly assessments, or OASIS data, for at least one year in order to be included in the clinical performance reports. These assessments are used to calculate the quality measures.
• Each clinical measure is reported as the percentage (rate) of patients in each home health agency that had a particular outcome, like pain.
• Additionally, a diamond rating appears that indicates whether the home health agency’s score was better than the national average (◆ ◆ ◆), about the same as the national average (◆ ◆), or worse than the national average (◆).
• Sometimes home health agencies do not have diamonds for a quality measure. When the clinical measure reflects outcomes for fewer than 20 patients the report says “Not applicable,” or “N/A.” When clinical measure information is not collected—for example, because an agency has not been open for a year—the report has an “X.”
• For most clinical measures, high percentages (rate) indicates that more individuals are better off and improved. The opposite is true for the “Any Emergent Care” and “Acute Care Hospitalization” measures. For all clinical measures, the diamond rating system indicates that a home health agency belongs in the top (◆ ◆ ◆), middle (◆ ◆), or lower (◆) group of home health agencies in Rhode Island for that clinical measure.
• For a description of the clinical measures, click here.
• To access clinical measure rates for home health agencies nationwide, or to compare Rhode Island home health agencies side-by-side, go to Home Health Compare.

What the rates mean

• A one-diamond rating on a clinical measure for one home health agency does not mean that the home health agency is “bad.” It could mean that for that one measure, the home health agency did not perform as well relative to agencies nationally. It could also mean that their patient population differs from other home health agencies. The same is true for a three-diamond rating.
• If you have questions about what these rates mean for the home health agency that provides your care or the home health agency of a loved one, call the Department at 401-222-2550.