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Penny Jeffra Schwartz, Susan Blumenfield, Ellen Perlman Simon, The Interim Homecare Program: An Innovative Discharge Planning Alternative, Health & Social Work, Volume 15, Issue 2, May 1990, Pages 152–160, https://doi.org/10.1093/hsw/15.2.152
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Abstract
With the advent of prospective payment systems and diagnostic related groups, hospitals are under increasing pressure to discharge patients as soon as they are medically ready. Many patients require additional time to recover physically, socially, emotionally, and functionally. The Interim Homecare Program (IHP) provides time-limited intensive home health aide services for elderly patients who are at risk for protracted recovery times or rehospitalization due to incomplete or failed recuperation after hospital discharge. In this article the authors report on a study of data from case records of all IHP patients served during the first year of operation. The study compared the length of stay (LOS) for IHP patients to the estimated LOS that they would have had if IHP services had not been available. The success of IHP in shortening LOS for this high-risk population exceeded projected estimates and expectations.