Derivation and validation of the Personal Support Algorithm: an evidence-based framework to inform allocation of personal support services in home and community care.

Background: Personal support services enable many individuals to stay in their homes, but there are no standard ways to classify need for functional support in home and community care settings. The goal of this project was to develop an evidence-based clinical tool to inform service planning while allowing for flexibility in care coordinator judgment in response to patient and family circumstances.

Methods: The sample included 128,169 Ontario home care patients assessed in 2013 and 25,800 Ontario community support clients assessed between 2014 and 2016.