Monthly Roundups

In this March’s round of Advanced Care at Home highlights, we feature a D Magazine report on Resilient Healthcare, which is expanding its network through a partnership with a Houston area Independent Physician Association, making 13,000 members eligible for hospital-at-home services. Resilient was the first in Texas to launch a hospital-at-home program via a partnership with Medical City in early 2021 and has contracts with more than 20 hospitals. The new partnership will allow physicians in the IntegraNet network to refer patients with complex care needs or who need certain acute hospital services to receive those services via Resilient. Another key feature is Atrium Health’s partnership announcement with Best Buy Health to enhance their hospital at home experience. This new partnership will provide specially trained Geek Squad agents to provide and set up in-home, wearable technology that allows a patient’s vital signs to be monitored remotely by an Atrium Health care team around the clock. As Atrium Health is the nation’s largest hospital at home provider, this partnership will enhance care for many people. Finally, this month brought a Chief Healthcare Executive special report on hospital at home programs, noting their strong clinical outcomes, high patient satisfaction, and staff fulfillment. The article calls hospital at home the future of medicine. However, the article also highlights that healthcare leaders need permanent allowances and clarity from the government to further expand and improve these programs. The growth of hospital at home programs across the country demonstrates the importance of our work to solidify and shape the model.

February’s Advanced Care at Home Monthly Round-Up features the Hospital@Home Leadership Summit, featuring Lisa Tripp (Medically Home), Bruce Leff (Johns Hopkins university School of Medicine), Ila Mapp (UNC Health), and Rachel Stauffer (McDermott+Consulting). Panelists discussed what is required to move forward with the model, including equity, cost, and outcomes data to make the case to legislators about making the model permanent. Overall, panelists agreed that hospital at home will be a key feature of the hospitals of the future. Additionally, we highlight a Health Affairs article calling the Hospital at Home waiver extension in the CAA a provision that could represent the future of hospital care in the United States. While noting the improved quality and health outcomes and lower costs, the article outlines the need to better understand equity, where the model could be reimbursed using alternative payment, and novel legal and regulatory risks to payers and providers. Finally, the Round-Up includes a State of Reform article that demonstrates the implementation success of hospital at home programs in Florida. The article reports that patient and physician satisfaction has been high, but action at the federal level is still required to make the program permanent. Overall, the benefits of hospital at home remain clear, and leaders recognize the importance of developing these programs.

This month’s Advanced Care at Home highlights feature the rollout of Medically Home’s ED in Home program, which brings emergency department level care to patients at home. ED in Home is another example of Medically Home advancing the movement to safely decentralize care to the home. Also, an American Medical Association article highlights the successes of the Marshfield Clinic Health System’s hospital-at-home program. Between 2016 and 2019, the program saw 44% fewer 30-day readmissions and a 50% drop in emergency department visits compared with those treated in the hospital; greater than 90% patient-satisfaction rates; saving about 15–30% per incident when compared to historical baseline costs; and saving 1.2 million miles of patient driving thanks to the virtual service. Furthermore, this month’s highlights include a New York Times Magazine that shines a spotlight on a patient receiving care through Presbyterian Healthcare Services’ Hospital at Home program, which has been providing people with acute inpatient-level care in their own homes since 2008, one of the oldest such programs in the country. The article discussed the high-quality, compassionate, and effective care that the program provides to its patients. Finally, we share the podcast Gist Healthcare Daily with host J. Carlisle Larsen in an episode titled, “What Could Hospital at Home Look Like in 2023?”. The podcast features Dr. Pippa Shulman of Medically Home as she discusses how the Acute Hospital Care at Home (AHCAH) waiver extension will allow programs to move out of the pilot stage and scale up. Overall, providing advanced care at home continues to be top of mind to several stakeholders in the healthcare industry as we begin the new year.

In this month’s round of Advanced Care at Home highlights, we feature an Advisory Board article detailing how more hospitals are investing in hospital at home. The article flagged Mayo Clinic, Medically Home, ChristianaCare, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Hackensack Meridian Health, and Johns Hopkins as organizations that work to provide hospital at home care. The article discussed the effects of the Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver expiring. We also see MedTech Intelligence discuss the role of remote patient monitoring innovations in moving the needle on virtual and connected care in an interview with InfoBionic CEO Stuart Long. Long spoke to how medical technology innovations can overcome challenges of providing care to patients in their homes. He highlighted how health systems are leaning into hospital-at-home programs thanks to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) allowances. Finally, we see Virtua Health announce that the hospital-at-home program it launched in January has now been incorporated into all five of its health care facilities. Staff, patient, and family response to the program has been positive, with added benefits of decreased likelihood of readmission and saving inpatient resources for seriously ill patients. Potential end of year Congressional action on the extension of the Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver continues to be top of mind for all healthcare stakeholders in the industry.

In this month’s round of Advanced Care at Home highlights, we feature Parkland Hospital’s hospital at home program in Dallas, Texas. Parkland Hospital notes that patients are more active at home and are more engaged in their care. We also see Texas Health Resources launching a new model to allow patients to receive clinical care and services in the comfort of their own home. The program seeks to provide a more intimate level of patient care and emotional support while decreasing the rate of hospital readmissions. Additionally, we see BioIntelliSense, a continuous health monitoring and clinical intelligence company, enter into a strategic partnership with Medically Home, a technology-enabled services company that is at the forefront of the movement to decentralize care for serious or complex illnesses. With the comprehensive Medically Home and BioIntelliSense solution, patients with conditions across a broad spectrum of severity, complexity, and risk will continue to be cared for safely at home with clinical accuracy, reducing the necessity for traditional building-centric care. Finally, we see Cardinal Health launch Velocare, a supply chain network and last-mile fulfillment solution capable of reaching patients in one to two hours with critical products and services required for hospital-level care at home. Hospital at home care continues to be of great significance to all stakeholders in the healthcare industry.

In this month’s round of Advanced Care at Home highlights, we feature a HealthTech roundtable regarding the future of at-home care, discussing how the hospital-at-home waiver lifted a burden off of hospitals during COVID-19. Additionally, Fierce Healthcare reports that CVS, Walgreens, and Best Buy are investing in in-home medical services, demonstrating that healthcare stakeholders realize that the hospital at home model meets patients’ needs, keeps costs down, and does not sacrifice quality or safety in patient care. We also feature news that Allina Health is launching a new company named Inbound Health, which enables health systems and health plans to establish hospital-at-home and skilled nursing-at-home programs around the country. Finally, a Forrester article on the future of acute care at home provided four recommendations for healthcare organizations to thrive in this type of model: preserve nursing staff to keep acute home care from floundering; decrease adverse events and organization expenditures; prioritize conditions with predictable outcomes; and remain competitive in digital innovation. This month’s round-up illustrates that hospital-at-home services are going to continue to grow and develop as more stakeholders come to the table.

In this month’s round of Advanced Care at Home highlights, we feature a Better Medicare Alliance and Moving Health Home webinar entitled, “In-Home Care is Here to Stay: How Medicare Advantage is Innovating to Meet Beneficiaries Where They Are,” which highlighted the benefits and significance of at-home care and how patients, especially seniors, prefer care in their homes. We also share news that UNC Health’s Advanced Care at Home program received the Highsmith Award at its one-year milestone. The award is presented for collaborative work by hospitals and health systems that utilize new skills, practices, and systems to transform healthcare delivery to patients. Additionally, this month’s highlights include Lee Health’s partnership with Health Recovery Solutions (HRS) to expand in-home care capabilities in Florida using a comprehensive remote monitoring platform, complete with blood pressure monitors, scales, and pulse oximeters. Finally, the Advanced Care at Home Coalition and Medically Home held a Hospital at Home demonstration in the Rayburn House Office Building to educate Representatives and staffers on the Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act and the importance of the extension of the Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver. The acute in-home hospital care space continues to grow and benefit both patients and health systems under Acute Hospital Care at Home waivers.

In this month’s round of Advanced Care at Home highlights, we feature Elevance Health’s plans to expand its at-home care offerings as the insurer solidifies its growth plans for 2022 and beyond. Elevance has plans to scale myNEXUS’ new post-acute care program, which serves Medicare patients in Indiana, to all of the company’s markets within a year. The organization believes that myNEXUS will equip providers with better technology and tools to optimize appropriate levels of care at home. We also see a Fierce Healthcare article regarding a study that found that Medicare needs to improve reimbursements for at-home care to entice more accountable care organization (ACO) investment. The article goes to show that as hospital-level care at home becomes more prevalent, it will be significant for action to be taken to allow for proper reimbursement of these services. Finally, we see a Health Recovery Solutions article highlighting five lessons learned about Hospital at Home programs. Lessons learned included the following: set clear Hospital at Home program goals; determine patient eligibility, select patients for the program, and prioritize patient safety; build a robust Hospital at Home program team and provide continuous internal education; ask the right questions and plan ahead for challenges; and harness the power of telehealth. Stakeholders across the healthcare industry continue to advocate for hospital at home programs.

In this month’s round of Advanced Care at Home highlights, we feature the launch of Tampa General Hospital’s hospital at home program, called TGH at Home. The program incorporates high-tech applications, including remote patient monitoring and telehealth visits supplemented by in-person care by trained health care providers. We also see an article written by Dr. Stephen Parodi, executive vice president at The Permanente Federation and an associate executive director for The Permanente Medical Group, and Ceci Connolly, president and chief executive officer of the Alliance of Community Health Plans, detailing why it is pivotal for Congress to extend flexibilities for hospital care at home beyond the public health emergency. Finally, we see a partnership between Adventist Health and Emcara Health to expand in-home care to high-risk communities in parts of California. Providing hospital care at home continues to be significant to the healthcare industry and patients and their families continue to benefit from this program.

In this month’s round of Advanced Care at Home highlights, we feature the success of the Hospital at Home Week of Action, hosted by the Advanced Care at Home coalition. The Week of Action was held from June 6-10 and was a huge success, with over 300 registrants for the Lunch and Learn session, more than 20 Congressional meetings with key Committee staff members, and social media advocacy. We also see a news article highlighting Baylor Scott & White’s plans to launch a Hospital at Home program in 2023. Finally, we see a partnership between Contessa Health and Memorial Hermann Health System to provide home-based care services to its patients. At-home care continues to be a vital component of efficient patient care and we continue to see advocates raise awareness around this topic.

In this month’s round of Advanced Care at Home highlights, we see a local news article that featured Billings Clinic in Montana, which is the first in the state to have hospital at home services from Dispatch Health. We also see Michigan Health Lab highlight the work of Michigan Medicine and Dr. Grace Jenq. The team runs five programs that include in-home visits by a full team of clinicians and their Patient Monitoring at Home program allowed for hospital readmission rates to drop by 64%. Furthermore, we see the President and CEO of Integris Health write an op-ed in The Journal Record highlighting the efforts of the Hospital at Home program that Integris launched in Oklahoma. Finally, Becker’s Hospital Review published a piece describing efforts by hospitals to offer more services outside the home. Advanced care at home continues to gain momentum as a model of innovation in the healthcare space.

In this month’s round of Advanced Care at Home highlights, we see a partnership between Illinois-based Blessing Health System and virtual care provider Biofourmis to provide acute-level hospital care inside patients’ homes. The partnership highlights how technology and health systems can merge to enhance healthcare delivery for patients. We also feature a patient story from the Mayo Clinic, where a spinal surgery patient was able to successfully recover outside of the hospital in the comfort of his home with immediate access to his care team whenever necessary. Furthermore, we see a blog by the California Health Care Foundation that notes how at-home monitoring creates an efficient and successful virtual hospital for UCI Health. Early outcomes data from their program indicate a reduction in length of stay and readmission rate. Finally, we see The Gleaner feature an article on the benefits of hospital-at-home care and how patients thrive in their own environment with they are surrounded by family and friends during recovery. We continue to realize that advanced care at home programs are pivotal to innovation and efficient care delivery systems.

In this month’s round of Advanced Care at Home highlights, we see the introduction of the Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act, S. 3792 and H.R. 7053, that would extend Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) waiver flexibilities currently tied to the Public Health Emergency (PHE). We also see a feature on UMass Memorial Health’s hospital at home program. Their program shows a 20-to 30-percent drop in 30-day readmission rates, strong clinical outcomes related to deep vein thrombosis and other infections that can be acquired in a hospital setting, and lower rates of discharge to skilled nursing facilities. We see a McKinsey and Company article highlighting that up to $265 billion worth of care services for Medicare fee-for-service and Medicare Advantage beneficiaries could shift to the home by 2025. Finally, we see a study published by the University of Iowa in the Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare that found that an at-home telemonitoring program was an effective and sustainable way to manage COVID-19 for patients. Advanced Care at Home models continue to be relevant in the healthcare space and advocacy remains around these programs.

In this month’s round of Advanced Care at Home highlights, we see Hackensack Meridian Health, New Jersey’s largest and most integrated health network, launch a Hospital At Home at JFK University Medical Center in Edison to deliver high-quality acute care in the home of Medicare patients, with goals to have the program ultimately be scalable to the larger patient population. We also see the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs feature an article on the benefits of providing at-home care to veterans. This month, we also had the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy host a webinar entitled, “Leveraging Payment Reforms to Transform and Expand Home-Based Care for People with Complex Health Needs” on February 17, 2022. The webinar featured a panel discussion around value-based payment reform and the benefits of providing hospital care in the home. The webinar also included a discussion with CMMI’s Acting Deputy Director, Dr. Chris Ritter, on the Innovation Center’s outlook on at-home care as well as payment reform for alternatives to the fee-for-service model. Finally, we see the launch of Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s at-home hospital program that enables clinicians to treat acute medical problems in patients’ homes. There continues to be momentum around advanced care at home with the implementation of new programs nationally as well as continued advocacy to support the model.

In this month’s round of Advanced Care at Home highlights, we see a partnership between Integra Community Care Network, the accountable care organization (ACO) for Care New England Health System, and tech company Biofourmis to help advance the type of care provided in the ACO’s hospital at home program. We also see Baxter International, Cardinal Health and Global Medical Response leading a $110 million investment into Medically Home to advance the care provided in advanced care at home programs. The investments help support a growing need for flexible hospital capacity, evolving patient preferences and a continued shift toward hospital care at home. We see the launch of Virtua Health’s hospital at home program in New Jersey, helping relieve overcapacity burden hospitals face as a result of COVID-19. Finally, we see an article by Dr. Stephen Parodi, associate executive director for The Permanente Medical Group at Kaiser Permanente, and executive vice president at The Permanente Federation. This article highlighted how the pandemic has supercharged a transformation in acute care and underscored Kaiser Permanente’s commitment to the advanced care at home model. Advanced care at home remains a vital piece of care innovation and continues to show better outcomes for hospitals, providers, and patients.

In this month’s round of Advanced Care at Home highlights, we see an expansion in realization that advanced care at home is the future of healthcare. We see an article from Next Avenue highlighting that the technology, affordability and patient satisfaction associated with hospital-at-home means in-home health care solutions could revolutionize medical care for older Americans. UNC Health is featured in a local news article, highlighting their patient success and ability to offer at-home and telehealth services to patients during the pandemic. Finally, we see the Advanced Care at Home (ACH) Coalition recognized in Becker’s Hospital Review as a top ten hospital innovation notable initiative. ACH’s efforts are listed alongside new artificial intelligence-powered healthcare companies, digital health, and data analytics. We continue to see the importance of integrating technology with providing quality healthcare as well as the value of shifting hospital care to the home.

In this month’s round of Advanced Care at Home highlights, we see continued interest in mobilizing hospital care in the home. The Hospital at Home Users Group held their annual meeting with several sessions discussing the advanced care at home program. Sessions covered included Hospital at Home and the Needs of the Medicare Beneficiaries as well as COVID + Hospital at Home. MedCityNews featured an article highlighting how hospitals can partner with hospital at home programs to leverage opportunities of home care and improve patient outcomes. We also see Medical City Healthcare partner with Resilient Healthcare to provide medical services such as around-the-clock remote monitoring and daily provider visits to patient of 14 Medical City hospitals under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Acute Hospital Care at Home Program. Providing hospital care in the home seems to provide measurable success to hospital entities and will be an asset to the future of healthcare.

In this month’s round of Advanced Care at Home highlights, we see a continued increase in awareness and momentum around the Advanced Care at Home program. This month has been extremely successful for the Advanced Care at Home Coalition as we officially launched the coalition and saw its success through immense media and press coverage. This month’s round-up also features the successes of Mayo Clinic and Henry Ford Health System and how they leverage their infrastructure and partnerships to provide at-home care for patients. We also see the importance of technology with companies, such as Biofourmis in Boston, that provide opportunities to enhance patient care in a virtual capacity with remote digital monitoring. Finally, we see continued discussion around the advanced care at home program and the ability to move patient care out of the hospital and into the home with the Connected Health Virtual Summit. This program has brought immense success to various patients, families, and health care stakeholders so far.

In this month’s round of Advanced Care at Home highlights, we see the continued success of advanced care at home programs. This month’s round-up features a HealthLeaders article detailing how hospital at home is taking patient experiences to new levels. The article highlights the Adventist Health Hospital at Home program and its partnership with Vituity. We also see Laguna Health launching an app to help patients manage their care at home after discharge from the hospital. Laguna’s tool lets patients contact an on-demand care team, talk to behavioral health specialists, view recovery plans and educational resources, and communicate with their providers. We see the success of the Mount Sinai at Home program, which uses an integrated care model to treat patients who are homebound or have trouble accessing care outside their home. This month’s round-up also features an insightful HIT Consultant article elaborating on three factors that combined to define the future of Hospital at Home care. These three factors are changing patient attitudes, medical economics and the positive acceptance of telemedicine. Advanced care at home is an asset to the future of healthcare and is becoming widely accepted across the healthcare community.

In this month’s round of Advanced Care at Home highlights, we see an immense amount of interest in hospital at home models. This month’s round-up features the kickoff of UMass Memorial Health’s Hospital at Home program, which aims to have five patients by the end of August and ten by the end of September. We also see the expansion of hospital care to the home with a new company called Cadence. Mayo Clinic was featured on the Today Show, with Dr. Pippa Shulman, who helped design the program, explaining how consumers are paying less with the advanced care at home program. We also see an article on TechCrunch elaborating on how the future of healthcare is in the home by highlighting the value of next-generation technology and value-based care strategies. Advanced care at home remains a vital piece of interest in the healthcare industry and is quickly shaping the future for patient care and success.

In this month’s round of Advanced Care at Home highlights, we continue to see an acceleration of interest in bringing hospital care to the home. This month’s round-up features Holy Name as the first hospital in New Jersey to institute the state’s first government-approved hospital at home program. We also see a patient success story at Duke Health, marking the successes of treating its first patient under the Duke Raleigh Acute Hospital Care at Home Program. The round-up features an interview with Maneesh Goyal from the Mayo Clinic and Dr. Stephen Parodi from Kaiser Permanente regarding their investment in Medically Home as well as the importance of technology in achieving efficiency in advanced care at home models. We also see the expansion of the University Hospitals Hospital-at-Home program in collaboration with Edgility Cognitive Healthcare. Advanced care at home is continuing to show high levels of success and efficiency among providers and patients. The model is certainly vital to the future of healthcare.

In this month’s round of Advanced Care at Home highlights, we see an incredible amount of momentum and interest around the Advanced Care at Home program. This month’s round-up features the Physician-focused Payment Model (PFPM) Technical Advisory Committee (PTAC) where Dr. Narayana Murali and Kendall Haygood presented the Marshfield Clinic Health System-Contessa Health joint proposal for acute care at home. We also see Kaiser Permanente, Mayo Clinic, John Hopkins Medicine, Presbyterian Healthcare Services and Massachusetts General Hospital highlighted as leading acute care at home stakeholders in Modern Healthcare and Kaiser Health News. We continue to see partnerships such as the one between Sentara Medical Group and Sentara Home Care Services to provide hospital-level care at home.  Finally, we see the launch of Hoag at Home, California-based Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian’s hospital at home program. The new program will include skilled nursing and therapy services, palliative care, bereavement support and physician services at home. The advanced care at home movement is continuing to pick up speed and is becoming a topic of interest among several stakeholders.