Our newspaper examined Ohio’s preparedness for the shift to in-home care, which is rapidly replacing nursing homes and institutions as the preferred form of long-term care. We documented the industry’s tremendous, almost unchecked, growth in central Ohio, and showed how fraud, low wages and scant regulation jeopardize care and waste public health funds. Major findings included: * Since 2003, the home-care industry has grown by 92 percent in Ohio, one of just eight states that don’t license home health providers. In Franklin County, the industry has grown by 195 percent during the same period. * Among the nation’s top 50 metro areas, central Ohio has the highest number of Medicare-certified home health agencies per person. * While home health care accounts for less than 5 percent of the state’s Medicaid spending, it has accounted for more than half of improper Medicaid payments to providers in the state’s past three fiscal years. * Questionable billing by home health agencies in Ohio is at least twice as prevalent as the national average, with 18 percent of such businesses submitting bills that federal officials found questionable. * The bulk of care is provided by poorly paid aides with limited training and high rates of turnover, factors repeatedly cited by consumers and researchers as harming care. * Consumers have few reliable ways to evaluate home-care agencies for dependability and high-quality care. Despite the preferences of consumers and a push by the state to save money on institutional care, Ohio still collects and disseminates far more information on nursing homes.
