Monitoring the Quality of Contracted Therapy Services Provided by a Vendor: A Model for Home Health Services

Abstract

Many home health care agencies contract with outside vendors to provide some services, such as occupational and physical therapy. The agency, however, must assure the quality of these contracted services. Rush Home Health Service has developed a system for monitoring the quality of care provided by a vendor of rehabilitation services. The system focuses on seven aspects of care provided by the vendor: referral response time, contract therapists' records, visit attempts, timeliness of documentation, presence of required documentation, content of documentation, and the quality of care (goals reached, continuity of care, and patient satisfaction).