Care for people at home has been around for centuries. In fact, care at home was the primary means of care prior to the emergence of large hospitals and skilled care centers. When the Medicare benefit came into being in 1965, Congress authorized home care as a part of Medicare legislation known as Title XVIII of the Social Security Act. In the 1980’s, home care emerged as a significant portion of the Medicare budget. It was widely recognized that home health care was a cost-effective alternative to institutional care, not only for Medicare beneficiaries, but also for younger patients on insurance plans and those eligible for Medicaid. With the advances in technology making more services available for treatments in home, including intravenous services, advanced wound care treatments and an array of diagnostic and monitoring devices, opportunities for home health care have increased. In 1995, for the first time, more people died of chronic disease than of acute disease. This suggests that the future will be about the management of chronic disease and not acute illness. The number of people going into hospitals will decrease and they will spend less time there. In addition, the “Baby Boom” generation is beginning to mature to Medicare age and will begin to need care to manage chronic illnesses. These factors, along with an increased life expectancy, will be the reasons why the demand for home care services will continue to increase. If you have any questions or concerns please contact Dignity Health and Home Care at (435) 656-1833.

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