Federal officials on Monday released critiques on 155 home health care agencies in Kansas.

“It’s our hope that people will use this information as a starting point in asking questions about quality of care. And from those questions we hope will come improvement,” said Julie Brookhart, public affairs specialist at the regional Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Kansas City, Mo.

The critiques, found through www.medicare.gov, are limited to Medicare-certified agencies.

The site shows 17 agencies providing in-home health care services in Douglas County, 15 in Franklin County and 18 in Jefferson County. Most are headquartered in Johnson County or in Topeka; Visiting Nurses Assn. is the only Lawrence-based program.

The Web site includes critiques on more than 7,100 agencies in all 50 states.

The reports, extrapolated from billing information, are based on percentages of patients whose conditions improve while in an agency’s care and those who were admitted to a hospital. Also, each percentage — for 11 categories in all — is compared with state and national averages.

Visiting Nurses Assn.’s averages fell short of the state and federal averages in eight categories; surpassed two; and tied one.

“I would caution people that these percentages are not statistically valid,” said Jan Jenkins, executive director at the Visiting Nurses Assn. “There are many, many variables that go into this.”

For example, the data show that 25 percent of Visiting Nurses Assn.’s patients “get better at walking or moving around” while in the agency’s care. The state and national averages are 32 percent and 34 percent, respectively.

The disparity, Jenkins said, was driven by two patients’ conditions.

“We appreciate the federal initiative, and we think it’s a good tool for consumers,” Jenkins said. “We’re hoping people will look at it and call us.”

Currently, Visiting Nurses Assn. provides in-home care services for about 1,000 people in the Douglas County area.

Linda Lubensky, executive director at the 130-member Kansas Home Care Assn., said the critiques should not be used to compare programs.

“A lot of times, the quality indicators that are being shown here are driven by indicators that are outside a provider’s control. So it’s terribly important for people not to think that what they see here means that one is good or that one is bad.”

Kansas Home Care Assn. is based in Lawrence.

The critiques are similar to those released last year on nursing homes.