BAYADA, University of Washington Partner for Home Health Study

PHILADELPHIA—BAYADA Home Health Care, a nonprofit home health care provider, has partnered with the University of Washington (the UW) to analyze home health care practices, funded by a $310,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The study aims to enhance care by identifying how different practices, such as the mix and intensity of visits, affect health outcomes across various client groups. The research will analyze nonidentifiable client data from 2020 to 2025 to gain insights into how home health care services can be optimized. The end goal is to identify the mix and amount of home health care services that are most effective for an individual’s needs.

“This research will help us do a better job every day of taking care of people,” said Mike Johnson, chief researcher, home care innovation at BAYADA. “We’ve always been interested in finding the best way to deliver care, and this grant allows us to take a deeper look at what specific combinations of services lead to the best outcomes. It’s about ensuring we’re providing the right care, at the right time, in the right amount, for every client.”

The study will explore key questions, including:

• How does the number and type of visits impact a client’s outcomes?
• What is the most effective “visit mix” of care services for different patient populations, such as those with heart failure or stroke?
• Does “front-loading” visits—delivering a higher number of visits at the start of care—improve outcomes? 

The grant was recently awarded to Assistant Professor Rachel Prusynski in the department of rehabilitation medicine at the UW by the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research. Prusynski has worked with BAYADA previously on a study that found that Medicare Advantage beneficiaries receive shorter and less intensive home health care and experience slightly worse functional outcomes compared to those with traditional Medicare.

BAYADA has signed an agreement with the UW to ensure that their research will be conducted with the highest ethical and academic standards, and that its findings will be published for the benefit of all stakeholders—patients, care providers and payers. 

“Our partnership with the University of Washington reflects our commitment to clinical excellence and our mission to help people live a better quality of life at home,” said Justin Searle, president of home health at BAYADA. “Pioneering this research is an example of The BAYADA Way in action—we are putting our clients first while advocating for the broader home health care industry by sharing our findings to advance care nationwide.”