Risk of Rehospitalization or Emergency Department Visit is Significantly Higher for Patients who Receive Their First Home Health Care Nursing Visit Later than 2 Days After Hospital Discharge.

Objectives: This study explored the association between the timing of the first home health care nursing visits (start-of-care visit) and 30-day rehospitalization or emergency department (ED) visits among patients discharged from hospitals.

Design: Our cross-sectional study used data from 1 large, urban home health care agency in the northeastern United States.

Setting/participants: We analyzed data for 49,141 home health care episodes pertaining to 45,390 unique patients who were admitted to the agency following hospital discharge during 2019.

Methods: We conducted multivariate logistic regression analyses to examine the association between start-of-care delays and 30-day hospitalizations and ED visits, adjusting for patients' age, race/ethnicity, gender, insurance type, and clinical and functional status. We defined delays in start-of-care as a first nursing home health care visit that occurred more than 2 full days after the hospital discharge date.

Results: During the study period, we identified 16,251 start-of-care delays (34% of home health care episodes), with 14% of episodes resulting in 30-day rehospitalization and ED visits. Delayed episodes had 12% higher odds of rehospitalization or ED visit (OR 1.12; 95% CI: 1.06-1.18) compared with episodes with timely care.

Conclusions And Implications: The findings suggest that timely start-of-care home health care nursing visit is associated with reduced rehospitalization and ED use among patients discharged from hospitals. With more than 6 million patients who receive home health care services across the United States, there are significant opportunities to improve timely care delivery to patients and improve clinical outcomes.