Home Health Nursing Point System

Have you ever wondered how many patients a Home Health Nurse see in a day? The amount varies by agency and is based on a point system. The larger the Home Health agency we have found, the more points or patients Lynda has to see. This assignment in Portland Maine has been Lynda’s easiest so far as she only has to have 5 points in a day.

How is this calculated you may ask? For this agency a start of care which is where a patient is set up for service is 2 points. This is where she does a comprehensive assessment, which goes through the patients physical, mental and cognitive status to identify the needs of the patient. A Start of Care requires much more time than a follow-up visit. So typically an agency will count this as 2 points.

After a patient is admitted to Home Health they are seen on a weekly or bi-weekly basis to see how they are progressing. This is scored as 1 point since they are spending less time because all the pertinent information is already input into the system. This is where she is spends time assisting the patients recovery and checks on them to see if the wound is healing or is the patient taking their medications, etc. This is Lynda’s favorite part of the job because its very social and she spends time with the patient. When she worked in the Emergency Room, it was very hectic.

Lastly on the point system, there is a Resume of Care. This is where a patient is put back into the system again due to going back into the hospital or other problems that arise after discharge. This visit can be anywhere from 1 to 1.5 points.

So, on an average she is seeing 4-5 patients a day here in Portland. At our home in the city of Long Beach, she worked for her old company where we lived previously in Oregon. She had to have 7 points in a day. So she could end of doing 2 Start of Cares and a three follow-ups or resume of cares. That added a lot more time in driving and paperwork.

Each Home Health agency has different criteria for their agency and each one has a different amount of patients that each nurse is required to see. This job here in Portland had been a pleasant surprise for Lynda and she has really enjoyed her time here.