Home-health and hospice care--United States, 1992

An estimated 9.5 million persons in the United States have difficulty performing basic life activities because of mental or physical health conditions. In recent years, an increasing range of home-care services--including home-health care and hospice care--have been created for persons requiring long-term care, and access to such care has been increased through public programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. To better characterize the use of these services in the United States, CDC's National Center for Health Statistics conducted the 1992 National Home and Hospice Care Survey (NHHCS), the first survey of home-health agencies and hospices and their patients. This report presents preliminary findings from the survey.