Assessment Manual

Users Guide for the interRAI HC Assessment Form©

John N. Morris, PhD MSW [Chair]

Ruedi Gilgen, MD

Brant E. Fries, PhD

Jean-Noel DuPasquier, PhD

Roberto Bernabei, MD

Dinnus Frijters, PhD

Knight Steel, MD

Jean-Claude Henrard, MD

Naoki Ikegami, MD PhD

John P. Hirdes, PhD

Iain Carpenter, MD

Pauline Belleville-Taylor, RN MS

interRAI Instrument and Systems Development Committee

John Morris, PhD MSW [Chair]

Jean-Claude Henrard, MD

Katherine Berg, PhD PT

John P. Hirdes, PhD

Magnus Bjorkgren, PhD

Gunnar Ljunggren, MD PhD

Dinnus Frijters, PhD

Sue Nonemaker, RN MS

Brant E. Fries, PhD

Charles D. Phillips, PhD MPH

Ruedi Gilgen, MD

Knight Steel, MD

Len Gray, MD PhD

David Zimmerman, PhD

Catherine Hawes, PhD

August 2006

Acknowledgements

Work on the interRAI HC could not have been accomplished without the contribution and support of many people, including: staff from the Hebrew SeniorLife Institute for Aging Research in Boston, including Yvonne Anderson, Aleksandra Brenckle, Romanna Michajliw, and Shirley Morris; from the University of Waterloo, Nancy Curtin-Telegdi; and from the CNR (Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche), Target Project on Aging.

Neither interRAI, the publisher, nor the authors intend that this book should be used in lieu of comprehensive appropriate care. Every reasonable effort has been made to be sure that the information provided is accurate and up to date. However, the person’s physician or other authorized practitioner should validate information about drugs and therapies for appropriateness before prescribing.

For information or comments on the interRAI HC, visit www.interrai.org.

Suggested Citation

Morris JN, Fries B, Bernabei R, Steel K, Ikegami N, Carpenter I, Gilgen R, DuPasquier JN, Frijters D, Henrard JC, Hirdes J, Belleville-Taylor P, Berg K, Björkgren M, Gray L, Hawes C, Ljunggren G, Nonemaker S, Phillips C, Zimmerman D. User’s Guide for the interRAI HC, Washington, DC: interRAI, 2006.

interRAI Home Care.

DEVELOPMENT OF interRAI HC AND RELATED MATERIALS

A multinational group of clinicians and researchers, consisting of interRAI Fellows, began work on Version 1 of the RAI HC in 1993. Several different drafts of Version 1 were released between 1994 and 1997 – including Version 1.7, Version 1.10a, and Version 1.11. These instruments were used extensively in North America, Europe, and Asia.

A major revision and update of the entire system was released as “Version 2.0" in 1999. A few items were deleted, several items were modified, and a few added. The basic timeframe for an assessment was reduced from 7 days to 3 days (where possible). Triggers were streamlined and text updated in most of the 30 Clinical Assessment Protocols (CAPs).

In 2001, interRAI began a restructuring initiative to ensure that all instruments contained common items and definitions. This major revision of the home care instrument is known as the interRAI HC Assessment.

Although not included in this user’s manual, a variety of support materials are available. These include: (1) standardized scoring schema for creating summary indicators for measures such as ADLs, Cognition, Communication, Pain, and Mood; (2) a screening system to identify appropriate care pathways for persons (the MI-Choice© system); (3) a case-mix system that places persons into distinct service-use/intensity categories (RUG-III/HC); (4) translations of the interRAI HC into several languages other than English; and (5) a variety of software systems to facilitate data entry and triggering of the CAPs.

We also note that the interRAI HC system is one of a series of assessment integrated tools that interRAI maintains to assess and monitor the status of a person with needs for care. Other assessment and problem identification tools include the interRAI LTCF for nursing home and long-term care institutional settings, the interRAI PAC for post-acute care, the interRAI MH for institutional mental-health care, the interRAI CMH for community mental health care, the interRAI PC for palliative care, the interRAI AC for acute hospital care, and the interRAI ID for the care of persons with intellectual disabilities.