In this week's The Winning Edge webinar, executives from three leading health systems discussed how the platform improves clinical outcomes, reduces hospital overcrowding and costs, and boost patient satisfaction and engagement.
Despite challenges with reimbursement and complexity, the Hospital at Home strategy will be a key element of value-based care from here on.
That's the opinion of executives from three leading health systems who took part in this week's HealthLeaders The Winning Edge panel. They said the program, which enables patients to receive acute-level care in their homes rather than a hospital through a mix of virtual, digital and in-person services, has already proven its value.
Tuesday's panel featured Stephen Dorner, MD, MPH, MSc, chief of clinical operations and medical affairs for Mass General Brigham, which serves roughly 400 patients a month in a program launched in 2017; Daniel Davis, MD, senior medical director of primary care for the greater Charlotte market and senior medical director of continuing health for the Southeast region for Atrium Health, whose program includes one of the first pediatric Hospital at Home platforms in the country; and Logan Davies, MD, MBA, hospital medical director of access and throughput for Ochsner Health, which launched its first acute care at home program a little more than a year ago and is not following the Acute Hospital Care at Home (AHCaH) model favored by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
The three programs follow a familiar pattern but have their own unique variations, which is a strength of the strategy. While roughly 400 health systems and hospitals are following the CMS model and receiving Medicare reimbursements through a pandemic-era waiver due to expire this fall, many others are developing their own programs, with the goal of taking patients out of crowded hospitals, reducing excessive hospital-based costs and enabling patients to recover at home.
Davis said the CMS model offers "an important sign of legitimacy," but it's not the be-all and end-all of the program. Healthcare organizations across the country are struggling to redesign care in a more efficient and effective format, and a model that takes care out of the hospital and puts it in the home fits that plan.
Here's the You Tube presentation of this week's webinar:
Eric Wicklund is the associate content manager and senior editor for Innovation at HealthLeaders.