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Home care programs for the treatment of frail elderly have been developed in many countries around the world. In the Silver Network project all services are provided in an integrated fashion by one "single entry" center, differently from the traditional fee-for-service or not integrated systems. The delivery of health and social services for frail elderly individuals are integrated and coordinated by a case manager who uses a "second generation" assessment instrument, the Minimum Data Set for Home Care (MDS-HC). We describe the principal clinical and functional characteristics of nearly 1300 patients admitted between 1997 and 1998 to such an integrated home care program in eleven Italian Health Agencies. The database, derived from the serial MDS-HC assessments of each patient, provides a unique opportunity to delineate the different criteria for eligibility for home care, and compare the selected populations of the participating Health Agencies.