Home health care in the continuum: a review.

An aging population, financial and technical changes, and consumer preference will drive the increase in the types and volume of service clients receive at home. Financial and technical changes will influence the structure of home care services, but home health agencies will continue to partner with primary, acute, and long-term institutional care to provide a continuum of services. However, the health care system will need to allocate sufficient resources to home health if it is to serve an increasing number of more frail and unstable clients. Lacking such resources, home care may not able to contribute appropriately to the continuum of care, and the effectiveness of the overall health care system may be compromised. Challenges to home health agencies' successful operations include decreased resources, changing payment methods, staff shortages, and structural changes in health care systems that fragment care of decrease attention to home health. Home health care's traditional goals of serving clients and caregivers directly and educating them toward health and independence can continue if these problems are resolved.