As a limitation of this study, no large difference was
confirmed except for population density and numbers of
patients and home visits per worker between the urbanand
rural-centered agencies, although the agencies of
these types accounted for approximately 80% of all agencies.
Thus, the characteristics of these two types should be
further examined. In addition, since the categorization of
home-visit nursing agencies was performed with a focus
placed on the “structure”, service delivery system, and not
“process” and “outcome”, future studies could further sophisticate
the categorization by focusing on these other
two aspects of service. Factors of “process”, including a
flexible predictive approach depending on the individual
patients, a training system for such approach, and cooperation
with other businesses, and factors related to “outcome”,
such as changes in diseases and functional status
of patients, satisfaction of patients, and cost, should also
be incorporated to establish an appropriate system for further
improvement of home-visit nursing services in Japan.