Home health agency-provided services in the home can delay admissions to skilled nursing facilities by as much as eight months, according to new research from a team at the SUNY Albany School of Public Health. Researchers examined the extent to which comprehensive Certified Home Health Agency-provided (CHHA-provided) home health services—otherwise known as “Aging in Place” services—can permit seniors to remain in their homes for a significantly longer period of time than was the case previously. Authors compared length-of-stay in the home prior to nursing home (NH) admission for two time periods and found seniors could remain at home for an average 25 months in 2012, compared to only an average 17 months in 2007. This was despite the fact that on average patients had greater limitations in activities of daily at the time of admission to facilities in 2012 than they did in 2007. According to the researchers: “…Aging in place is good for the patient, but CHHAs and NH directors will need to plan staffing appropriately to care for the patients’ more complex needs when admission to the NH is delayed.” The study “Is Aging in Place Delaying Nursing Home Admission?” appears in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. Co-author Lindsay Kelly is an IPRO employee in the New York State Office of Health Insurance Programs’ Division of Long Term Care. For a copy of the article, visit the journal website at www.jamda.com.