Risk of Hospitalization Associated With Different Constellations of Home & Community Based Services

Background: Identify the association between specific combinations of home and community-based services (HCBS) and risk of acute hospitalization. Methods: : Data for this study came from Pennsylvania Medicaid claims, enrollment files, enrollee evaluations, and Medicare and Medicaid hospitalization records. This analysis compared risk of inpatient hospitalization across an entire state Medicaid population of community dwelling elderly individuals receiving HCBS. Twelve constellations of HCBS were identified, each composed of different services. Using logistic regression, we derived predicted probabilities of experiencing hospitalization for people in each constellation. This was secondary data analysis conducted outside of a hospital. This study used observational data. There was no randomization. Results: : The highest risk of hospitalization, 15.1%, was associated with use of home delivered meals and low levels of PAS. The lowest risk of hospitalization, 7.5% was associated with use of adult day care and low levels of PAS. An 11.6% risk of hospitalization was associated with people who had applied to receive HCBS but were deemed ineligible. This risk was higher than all other constellations of HCBS except for the risk associated with using only low levels of PAS (13.9%) and using low levels of PAS and home delivered meals (15.1%). Conclusions: : Using medium and high levels of PAS was associated with lower hospitalization risk compared to only low levels of PAS. Offering a higher initial level of PAS upon enrollment in Medicaid could potentially reduce hospitalization risk. People receiving home delivered meals had an elevated hospitalization risk.