An empirical study of a hospital-based home care program

Although it is widely perceived that home nursing care reduces the utilization of hospital services, and thus the cost of care, the magnitude of the savings is not clear. In this study of a hospital-based home nursing care program, we compared the medical process at two hospitals, one with and one without a home nursing department. Regression analysis showed that home nursing care significantly reduced both the length of hospital stays and the number of follow-up visits to outpatient clinics. After accounting for the cost of the home nursing program, however, we found that the program did not significantly reduce overall hospital expenditures.