The home health care industry has been significantly impacted by the OMNIBUS Reconciliation Act of 1997. Important changes in operations include the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) mandated use of the Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) as a means to assess Medicare clients. The standardization of collected data makes it possible to compare home care clients across agencies and regions of the country. The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in client status from admission to discharge from skilled home health care services in selected non-profit and for profit agencies using OASIS data. The variables of particular interest are the clients' ability to perform ADL/IADLs (MO640- MO800) at the time of discharge compared to admission. The impact of skilled nursing and therapy services on the outcomes can help evaluate the value of these services. The outcomes can also determine the need for further services.
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