How to Analyze a Trend Report From Home Health Agency

Trend reports provide visual data.

Analyzing a trend report from a home health agency requires a bit of knowledge about utilization rates. Utilization rates are comprised of data related to visits, services provided and gross revenues. Understanding how to read a health agency trend report is moderately easy to do.

Instructions

Time Series

1. Review trend reports or time series reports; they visualize results of a specific period of time. Analyze graphics and time periods to make sure they are equal and in chronological order. A graph that depicts an increase in sales that is listed with current dates first, actually shows a decline.

2. Ask the question, "Compared to what?" to ensure that the trend analysis is comparing the same features or numbers year over year. If revenue data changes over a period of time such as in the case of inflation, normalized data shows the ratio or percentage of change, rather than an actual figure.

3. Review the number of people served and analyze the trends. With people living longer, the amount of baby boomers getting older and new medicines that prolong life, the trend for growth in the health care home service industry is booming and expected to reach 90 billion nationally by the year 2014, according to a report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

4. Understand that longitudinal utilization rates do not track the treatment dose to the patient response, nor does it track recurrences of treatment. This means that certain treatments may be more effective than others, or some patients may need recurring treatment while others may be getting more treatment than needed.

References

• CBS Business Network: Home Health Care Analysis
• National Institute of Health: Longitudinal Analysis