[The Calculation of Quality Indicators for Home Care Agencies in 11 European Countries]

Objectives: To describe and calculate Home Care Quality Indicators from data of the European Aged in Home Care (ADHOC) project. With due regard for risk factors, home care agencies at country level have been compared with each other on quality of care.

Methods: The indicators of Home Care quality of care (HCQIs) are calculated based on methods that have been developed in the US and Canada. The values of these QIs are risk adjusted on the basis of odds ratios of covariates resulting from logistic regression analysis on the ADHOC sample. To enhance the comparison of QIs between countries we have used the method of percentile thresholds and QI aggregate sum measure related to those.

Results: Risk adjusted values of 22 Home Care Quality Indicators differed considerably between home care agencies in the eleven European countries that participated in ADHOC. The QI aggregate showed which countries probably had the best home care and which had the worst.

Conclusions: There are quality indicators available, derived from data of the Resident Assessment Instrument for Home Care, with which quality of care between home care agencies in and across nations can be adequately compared. Examples of this type of indicator are: social isolation, inadequate pain control, failure to improve in impaired locomotion in the home.