Table 1 Features of five types of home-visit nursing agencies in Japan categorized by cluster analysis from three nationwide surveys

A) Operating structure

Main body of establishment

 Hospital corporation (a)

39%

30%

26%

43%

38%

43%

 Medical association (a)

5%

10%

0%

2%

6%

4%

 Nursing association (a)

3%

8%

0%

2%

3%

2%

 Incorporated association/general incorporated foundation (a)

6%

11%

1%

6%

6%

4%

 Social welfare corporation (a)

7%

7%

6%

7%

7%

8%

 Business corporation (a)

27%

17%

64%

31%

27%

26%

 Others (a)

13%

17%

2%

11%

14%

13%

Operating years (average)

 Operating years (b)

10.9

12.8

9.3

10.4

11.2

10.4

Parallel establishment of medical facility

 Clinics with no beds (c)

13%

13%

13%

5%

13%

13%

 Clinics with beds (c)

4%

1%

2%

4%

4%

5%

 Hospitals (c)

37%

39%

23%

58%

35%

37%

 None/missing value (c)

47%

49%

64%

34%

49%

46%

Care management agency and branch agency

 Parallel establishment of care management agency (a)

54%

64%

41%

38%

57%

53%

 Another post of a worker as care manager (a)

18%

32%

8%

11%

21%

15%

 Establishment of branch agency (a)

4%

10%

9%

2%

3%

2%

B) Management of service

Operation days

 Only weekdays (b)

44%

47%

55%

40%

44%

42%

 Weekdays and Saturdays (b)

47%

43%

35%

53%

46%

48%

 Weekdays, Saturdays, and Sundays (b)

10%

10%

10%

7%

10%

10%

Status of notification system

 Addition of emergency services delivery (a)

86%

98%

62%

68%

90%

84%

 Addition of 24-hour service delivery (a)

77%

97%

53%

55%

83%

72%

 Addition of intensive medical management (a)

92%

100%

77%

66%

97%

91%

 Addition of end-of-life care (a)

85%

98%

61%

59%

90%

83%

Home-visit nursing care in private nursing homes

 Provisions of home-visit nursing services for patients in private nursing homes (c)

6%

7%

8%

11%

5%

6%

C) Employment

Number of workers (average)

 Nurses - converted as full-time workers (a)

4.7

8.8

5.1

4.4

4.2

4

 Rehabilitation staff - converted as full-time workers (a)

0.9

1.1

8.3

0.4

0.6

0.5

 Ratio of rehabilitation staff to total workers (a)

23%

0%

83%

1%

3%

2%

D) Patient utilization

Patients (average)

 Number of patients (a)

65.9

113.8

184

58.4

73

38.4

 Facilities with patients using medical insurance who accounted for 50% or more (a)

7%

4%

2%

90%

1%

0%

 Cancer at terminal stage (c)

2.6

5.8

2.3

1.3

2.6

1.9

 Intractable disease (c)

6.7

11.1

21.1

5.1

6.5

4.4

 Psychiatric disease (c)

5.2

4.8

2.2

50.7

2.7

1.7

Number of patients and home visits per worker (average)

 Patients per worker (a)

11.6

11.9

13.9

12.1

15.4

8.3

 Patients of terminal-stage cancer care per worker (c)

0.5

0.6

0.2

0.2

0.5

0.4

 Patients with intractable diseases per worker (c)

1.1

1.1

1.5

1

1.3

0.9

 Patients with psychiatric diseases per worker (c)

1

0.4

0.2

9.7

0.6

0.4

 Pediatric patients per worker (c)

0.2

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.2

0.1

 Home visits per worker (a)

64.4

68.8

72.5

61.3

85.1

46.6

System to accept patients

 Home intravenous alimentation (b)

83%

98%

75%

56%

89%

78%

 Mechanical ventilation (b)

72%

91%

77%

49%

77%

64%

 Pain control with narcotic medication (b)

84%

97%

69%

55%

90%

80%

Number of patient deaths per year (average)

 Total number of patient deaths (c)

13.9

32.4

13.1

5.4

14.5

9.2

 Number of patient deaths at home (c)

7.8

19.6

7

3.2

7.9

4.8

 Number of patient deaths at a place other than home (c)

6.1

12.8

6.2

2.2

6.6

4.3

 Rate of deaths at home (c)

62%

65%

59%

69%

62%

60%

Ratios related to death from cancer (average)

 Number of patients who died from cancer (c)

8.5

19

6.3

3.7

8.5

6.2

 Ratio of cancer patients among patients who died (c)

45%

47%

30%

38%

44%

47%

 Ratio of deaths at home of patients who died from cancer (c)

54%

59%

50%

52%

56%

51%

 Ratio of deaths at home of patients who died due to a cause other than cancer (c)

46%

49%

37%

53%

47%

46%

E) Financial condition

Financial performance of agency

 Profitable (c)

44%

62%

58%

35%

49%

34%

 Balanced (c)

27%

19%

26%

22%

31%

27%

 Unprofitable (c)

20%

14%

3%

25%

14%

28%

 Unclear (c)

9%

6%

14%

18%

6%

11%

F) Regional cooperation

Characteristics of location of the facility (cities, towns and villages)

 Population density median (b)

1122/km²

1234/km²

3538/km²

1157/km²

1992/km²

808/km²

 Population aging rate average (b)

23.4

22.8

22.2

22.5

23.1

24

Directions and cooperation (average)

 Collaborative hospitals who received directions (b)

23

34

53

16

26

17

 Collaborative physicians who received directions (b)

34.2

52.9

75.8

25.7

38.4

24

 Collaborative care management agencies

18

25

39

12

20

13