VNSNY Research Study Suggests Home Care Improves COVID-19 Patients’ Post-Acute Recovery
When COVID-19 patients receive home care services after being discharged from the hospital, their breathing issues and other symptoms get significantly better, their functioning improves, and factors associated with increased risk for hospital readmission are monitored and managed, supporting positive health outcomes and illness recovery.
This is the conclusion of a ground-breaking new study by the VNSNY Center for Home Care Policy & Research. The study, published yesterday in the prestigious Annals of Internal Medicine, looked at 1,409 VNSNY Home Care patients with COVID-19 who were referred to VNSNY by over 60 different hospitals during the first few weeks of the pandemic, from April through mid-June, with outcomes followed through mid-September.
“When these patients arrived in home health care, they were very sick and debilitated,” says Kathy Bowles, Director of the VNSNY Research Center. Half of the patients reported extreme exhaustion at the start of home care, she notes, and on average the subjects needed help with six out of the nine activities of daily living such as dressing and bathing. After several weeks of home care, which included nursing visits as well as physical therapy, the dependency on others for help performing activities of daily living went from an average of six activities to one.
In the analysis, led by Yolanda Barrón, Senior Statistician at the Research Center, the study’s subjects also showed significant improvements in pain levels, shortness of breath, alertness, and anxiety. Ultimately, 88% of the COVID-19 patients were discharged from home care without any adverse events and only 10% required readmission to the hospital.
“This study is important for a number of reasons,” says Kathy. “As one of the only research projects to look at what happens to people with COVID-19 after leaving the hospital, it highlights the benefits of home health care in supporting the recovery of COVID-19 patients and keeping them out of the hospital. We were also able to identify various risk factors for COVID-19 hospital readmissions, most notably co-morbid heart failure and diabetes.”
In addition, notes study co-author Margaret McDonald, Associate Director of the Center, “Our research highlights the hard work, bravery and success of the nurses, physicians, therapists, social workers and home health aides who helped the patients in our study achieve such good recovery.”
A key take-away from VNSNY’s research is that home health care is an underutilized resource for managing the COVID-19 pandemic. “According to a report by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, at present, only 11% of discharged COVID-19 patients in the U.S. are getting home care services,” Kathy explains. “Referring more COVID-19 patients to home care would help relieve the burden that hospitals across the nation are facing right now, while minimizing the COVID transmission risk associated with hospital stays.” Given the very low 1% mortality rate among the VNSNY study’s subjects, she adds, such a step “could provide a safe haven for COVID patients as the pandemic continues to surge.”
To read the actual published study in the Annals of Internal Medicine and to see the video featuring Kathy Bowles, click here. (The video is on the right side of the screen.)
