Capitating home health care.

Managed care is beginning to make inroads into home health care, and more home healthcare providers are signing capitation contracts. Unfortunately, a lack of home healthcare cost and utilization data has made it difficult to set reasonable capitation rates. In addition, home healthcare providers currently have little control over care management and, therefore, cannot effectively manage utilization under capitation. They also are unused to thinking in terms of controlling utilization and guaranteeing services for a predetermined population at a preset price. In the long run, however, home healthcare providers and payers that develop cooperative working relationships will find ways to collect and share the information they need to make these arrangements mutually successful.