This special issue of The American Journal of Occupational Therapy (AJOT) is devoted to the issues of home health care. Although the importance of the home environment in the treatment of illness has been well known, its importance has now been formalized by third-party payers for home health care services. Between 1974 and 1982, Medicare program payments for home health services increased 965....

Many infants, children, and adolescents with longterm, serious health problems require frequent and/or prolonged hospitalizations that separate them from their home environment. Hospitalization interferes with the ability to form the normal, interpersonal family and community relationships that are important for normal growth and development. Caring for a child at home may be a desirable altern...

OBJECTIVE To assess factors associated with home health care for the elderly and its characteristics based on different care models, the Family Health Strategy and traditional primary care. METHODS A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted in a representative sample of 1,593 individuals aged >60 years living in the urban area of the city of Bagé, Southern Brazil, in 2008. A multi...

BACKGROUND A multi-domain suite of instruments has been developed by the interRAI research collaborative to support assessment and care planning in mental health, aged care and disability services. Each assessment instrument comprises items common to other instruments and specialized items exclusive to that instrument. This study examined the reliability of the items from five instruments suppo...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The Patient-centered Medical Home (PCMH) concept, essential functions of primary care, and an appropriate primary care workforce have been shown to improve health outcomes and reduce health care costs. This paper describes a curriculum that uses the PCMH and related health policy concepts as the foundation for didactic, clinical, and self-directed elements. The PCMH-fo...