Adult Day Resources

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Adult Day Services provide a safe, structured and engaging day program for adults. Many programs have clinical components including nursing services and skilled rehabilitative therapy. These are called Adult Day Health programs. Locator

Below are some pieces of research that show the multiple benefits of Adult Day programs:

Research RI Study Brief with Graph
In Rhode Island, individuals with multiple chronic conditions and/or Alzheimer’s attending adult day health programs were tracked for a six-month period. For those attending the adult day programs as well as receiving home-based services such as home health care, data showed that hospitalization rates declined by 48 percent, from 27.5% to 14.3%.

PACE ADH Study
A nation-wide study of PACE programs (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) found that “The day center is a focal point for the provision of preventative and restorative services… Findings suggest that [PACE] programs with high hospital use may do well to examine and adjust the intensity of day center care. Greater focus on care provision in this setting may enhance care coordination and lead to reductions in hospitalizations, better outcomes and cost savings.”

Parma AD Transition Care Publication in Policy, Politics and Nursing Practice
Parma Community Hospital in Ohio has piloted the use of an adult day health center with its rehabilitative programs as a way to help individuals successfully make the transition from hospital to home. This adult day health program demonstrated a re-hospitalization rate of only 6.7% compared to a rate of over 19% for a control group using the typical post-discharge regimen of a skilled nursing facility or home health.

SHIP Project Results, SHIP Project Goering presentation
Over a 22 month period, vulnerable older adults living in adult family homes in Washington attended adult day health program and participated in an exercise program called the Safety and Health Improvement Project (SHIP). Over the nearly two-year period, participants were tracked for 32 health and functional outcomes.

Ninety-three percent (93%) of study participants either improved or maintained their health and function over that period of time with a per capita cost savings of 63%.