Development of a novel benchmark method to identify and characterize best practices in home care across six European countries: design, baseline, and rationale of the IBenC project
Creators
- 1. Department of General Practice and Elderly Care Medicine, Amsterdam Public Health research institute, Amsterdam UMC, VU University medical center, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081, BT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- 2. LUCAS Centre for Care Research and Consultancy, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- 3. Department of Geriatrics, Neuroscience and Orthopedics, Agostino Gemelli University Hospital, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
- 4. Department of Economics and Law, HTW Berlin, University of Applied Sciences, Berlin, Germany
- 5. Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam Public Health research institute, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands & GGZ inGeest Specialized Mental Health Care, Research and Innovation, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- 6. Department of Wellbeing, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland
- 7. Department of Geriatrics, Landspitali University Hospital, and Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland
- 8. Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Science, Amsterdam Public Health research institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Description
Background: Europe's ageing society leads to an increased demand for long-term care, thereby putting a strain on the sustainability of health care systems. The 'Identifying best practices for care-dependent elderly by Benchmarking Costs and outcomes of Community Care' (IBenC) project aims to develop a new benchmark methodology based on quality of care and cost of care utilization to identify best practices in home care. The study's baseline data, methodology, and rationale are reported.
Methods: Home care organizations in Belgium, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Italy, and the Netherlands, home care clients of 65 years and over receiving home care, and professionals working in these organizations were included. Client data were collected according to a prospective longitudinal design with the interRAI Home Care instrument. Assessments were performed at baseline, after six and 12 months by trained (research) nurses. Characteristics of home care organizations and professionals were collected cross-sectionally with online surveys.
Results: Thirty-eight home care organizations, 2884 home care clients, and 1067 professionals were enrolled. Home care clients were mainly female (66.9%), on average 82.9 years (± 7.3). Extensive support in activities of daily living was needed for 41.6% of the sample, and 17.6% suffered cognitive decline. Care professionals were mainly female (93.4%), and over 45 years (52.8%). Considerable country differences were found.
Conclusion: A unique, international, comprehensive database is established, containing in-depth information on home care organizations, their clients and staff members. The variety of data enables the development of a novel cost-quality benchmark method, based on interRAI-HC data. This benchmark can be used to explore relevant links between organizational efficiency and organizational and staff characteristics.