MCBS Highlights: Home Health, Facility, and Community Populations

Survey (MCBS) is a powerful tool for analyzing the Medicare population. Based on a stratified random sample, we can derive information about the health care use, expenditure, and financing of Medicare’s 39 million enrollees. We can also learn about those enrollees’ health status, living arrangements, and access to and satisfaction with care. Figures 1-3 present findings on Medicare beneficiaries in three very different living arrangements. We compare the health status and health expenditures of beneficiaries residing in the community and receiving home health services, beneficiaries residing in long-term care facilities, and beneficiaries residing in the community and not receiving home health services. Home health services have become an important part of Medicare services for individuals after an inpatient hospital event. Over 3.5 million beneficiaries received at least one day of home health services in 1996. Beneficiaries who received home health averaged 136 days of service. Medicare covers the majority of services provided by home health agencies resulting in low out-of-pocket costs for beneficiaries. In 1996, Medicare spent nearly $38 billion on beneficiaries who were receiving home health services, of which almost $17 billion went directly for services from home health agencies.