Author Description

This report studies patients in five selected diagnosis-related groups using a 20-percent random sample of all Medicare discharges in the 12 months ending June 1988. The report finds that female patients were more likely to use skilled nursing facilities (SNF) than men, though less likely to use rehabilitation care after a stroke; whites were more likely to use SNF care and less likely to use home health and rehabilitation care than non-whites; patients discharged from proprietary hospitals were more likely to use home health care than those discharged from not-for-profit or government-owned hospitals; and patients discharged from hospitals having a disproportionate share of Medicaid patients were more likely to receive rehabilitation care. There also seems to be a positive correlation between the prevalence of home health care use and the likelihood a patient will use rehabilitation care.