Cost Impact of Medicare OASIS Outcome Measurement for Rural Home Health Agencies

Abstract

Many home health agencies (HHA) are in small towns located in rural areas. Due to volume restraints, a rural home health agency desiring to excel financially must endeavor to understand OASIS (the Outcome and Assessment Information Set). Rural HHAs must ensure that their OASIS assessments are completed thoroughly, consistently, and accurately. OASIS was developed over more than a decade by researchers at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center (see http://www.uchsc.edu/), with funding for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The CMS requires that OASIS data be reported and this data is used for two purposes: “ to monitor outcomes of home health agency services and (as of October 2000) as an indicator of patient severity and needs in determining payment amounts under Medicare’s home health prospective payment system” (Keepnews, Capitman, and Rosati, pg. 79).