Home Care Quality Measures -
Percent of Patients Who Get Better at Bathing

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This percentage addresses the ratio of home care patients who get better at bathing during treatment. Higher percentages are better.

Why is this important?

Home care patients need certain physical abilities (motor skills) to take a bath or shower, and may need help from another person or special equipment. Their physical abilities can be developed or maintained by managing their symptoms or through physical or occupational therapy. Getting better at bathing means they may need less assistance or equipment to bathe, which may be a sign that they are making progress or meeting goals along the road to recovery.

A patient’s ability to bathe him- or herself is important so that he or she can be more independent, stay clean, feel better and stay healthy. A patient’s independence is especially important if there is no informal caregiver who can help when the home care caregiver is not there or when home care ends.

Most people value being able to take care of themselves, and in order to be as independent as possible, they need to do as much as they can for themselves, even if it takes longer than having someone else do things for them. Their home care staff and informal caregivers should encourage them to be as active as they can be while still remaining safe. Home care staff will evaluate their need for—and teach them how to use any—special devices or equipment that they may need to help them increase their ability to perform various activities without assistance.

If a patient can take a bath with little help, he or she may be more independent, feel better and stay more active, which can affect health in a positive way. The ability to bathe oneself may help patients live independently as long as possible in their own home.

If a home care patient stops taking care of him- or herself, it may mean that the patient’s health has gotten worse. In addition, their health and quality of life may get worse in the future. However, some patients will lose function in their basic daily activities even though the home care agency provides good care.

The U.S. and state averages for this measure were provided by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).