Home Health Physical Therapy Case Report Template

The purpose is to provide a detailed description of the physical therapy management for patients receiving home health treatment. Selection of the individual patient can provide relevant information to home health practitioners by describing unusual cases, highlighting a clinical experience that has not yet been described in the literature, or defining success/failure of a given treatment approach.

Directions: Please use the template below to create a report with the required 8 sections. Hints and instructions are available for each section in blue italics. Once you have compiled all of the information for the report, please email it to us as an attachment to [email protected].

**Please note that you are required to submit a completed Informed Consent Form with the case report. If your company also requires the completion of an informed consent form, please submit a copy of your completed company form along with the APTA Home Health form. (You are welcome to black out any confidential information in the form.)

1.Title
Be specific: refer to the condition and/or intervention that make this case of interest to home health therapy practice. The title should clearly state what the case report is about. For example: “Home Health Management of the Bilateral Total Knee Replacement Patient: Functional training considerations and effective approaches to developing the patient’s tolerance for exercise progression.”

2. Background/Purpose
State the focus of the case as related to diagnosis/clinical condition and home health physical therapy treatment.The author should feel free to state opinion and share anecdotal experience as motivation for writing case report. If available, a brief review of the literature related to the topic should be included. If relevant, include information about other disciplines involved in the care and any unusual or challenging issues. The statement of purpose is most often appropriate at the conclusion of this section.

3. Patient Profile
This section should help the reader understand and appreciate the exact nature of the patient’s condition and justification for home health physical therapy services. The following may be included:

  • Patient's concerns/complaints
  • Demographic characteristics
  • Primary reason for home health physical therapy treatment
  • Home health primary diagnosis and co-morbidities
  • Other relevant medical history
  • Prior or current services related to the current episode
  • Patient/family goals for physical therapy

4. Physical Therapy Assessment
Describe the patient’s baseline status: functional limitations, key impairments, and relevant pathology. The use of standardized outcome measures (e.g.- Timed-Up-And-Go, BERG Balance Scale) is encouraged. Describe clinical tests performed and patient response.

5. Physical Therapy Intervention
Provide parameters such as intensity, frequency, duration, and progression. State changes in treatment over time, along with the rationale for such changes. Sufficient detail should be included so that reader can readily replicate the treatment approach (tables and flow sheets are acceptable). 

6. Outcome
Describe the treatment outcomes with time points and compare discharge outcomes to baseline. The patient’s improvement with standardized outcome measures can be presented here.

7. Discussion
Summarize how the case demonstrated the intended purpose. Relate this case to potential implications for home health clinical practice (e.g.- “lessons learned)”. The author may note the need for further research in an attempt to encourage higher-level investigation.

8. References
Provide literature citations following AMA style (if applicable).