Performance model for telehealth use in home health agencies

Increasingly, home health agencies (HHAs) are considering the value of implementing telehealth technology. However, questions arise concerning how to manage and use this technology to benefit patients, nurses, and the agency. Performance models will be beneficial to managers and decision makers in the home health field by providing quantitative information for present and future planning of staff and technology usage in the HHA. This paper presents a model that predicts the average daily census of the HHA as a function of statistically identified parameters. Average daily census was chosen as the outcome variable because it is a proxy measure of an agency's capacity. The model suggests that including a telehealth system in the HHA increases average daily census by 40%-90% depending on the number of nurse full-time equivalent(s) (FTEs) and amount of travel hours per month. The use of a home telecare system enhances HHA performance.