Home Health Quality Initiative

Quality health care for people with Medicare is a high priority for President Bush, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). In November 2001, Secretary Thompson announced the Quality Initiative, his commitment to assure quality health care for all Americans through accountability and public disclosure.

The initiative aims to:

• empower consumers with quality of care information to make more informed decisions about their health care, and
• stimulate and support providers and clinicians to improve the quality of health care.

The Quality Initiative was launched nationally in November 2002 for nursing homes (the Nursing Home Quality Initiative), and has been expanded in 2003 to the nation’s home health care agencies (the Home Health Quality Initiative) and hospitals (the Hospital Quality Initiative).

In 2002, about 3.5 million elderly and disabled Americans received care from over 7,000 Medicare-certified home health agencies. Home health care is care provided to people who have a medical need for skilled care. A home health agency offers health care and personal care to patients at home, and in many cases, teaches them to care for themselves.

Learn more about the Arizona Home Health Quality Initiative.