Examining the efficiency of home care

This article focuses on the "efficiency" or cost-effectiveness of home care . Because home care encompasses a range of services targeted to many popula tions, it is necessary to take cognizance of case mix and clarify its goals to assess effectiveness. Goals for home care can be thought of as meeting and/or compensating for client dependency needs or making a difference in t he client's clinical trajectory, The latter implies comparing actual to exp ected outcomes,where outcomes can cover a wide range of domains addressing quality of care and quality of life. inferring the effect of treatment (i.e ., home care) on various outcomes will likely rely heavily one epidemiologi cal techniques that, in turn, rely on sophisticated statistical techniques. Problems-measuring the costs of care include how to handle the costs of in formal care and deciding whose costs should be of primary concern. Better d ata about the costs, and experimentation with different forms of caregiving , need to be pursued.