This care model promised to revolutionize healthcare delivery, freeing up beds, cutting costs, and keeping patients happier at home. But CFOs face a stark truth: without bold cost restructuring and strategic scale, the model's financial foundation may crumble before it ever delivers on its promise.
Welcome to the HealthLeaders August 2025 cover story. Each month, our editors dive into the topics that matter most—such as healthcare innovation, leadership strategies, and patient care—delivered in a dynamic, engaging format.
What did we look at this month? It's all about the viability and financial uncertainty surrounding Hospital-at-Home (HaH) care models.
It was billed as the future of acute care delivery—a model that could free up beds, cut costs, and delight patients. Yet for all its clinical wins, the financial upside of Hospital-at-Home (HaH) is far murkier than the headlines suggest. For most health systems, the strategy is more about capacity relief than cash flow.
The ROI isn’t in the black ink, it’s in fewer readmissions, happier patients, and the elusive promise of long-term sustainability.
More than 400 hospitals have launched Acute Hospital Care at Home (AHCaH) programs, riding a wave of pandemic-era necessity and a CMS waiver that unlocked Medicare reimbursement.
But with regulatory uncertainty, CFOs are staring down a blunt question: if the reimbursement goes away—or even shifts—does this model still make sense? CFO editor Marie DeFreitas investigates.
Read the full story here.
“Our job is not to optimize finances. Our job is to deliver the highest quality care possible in a financially sustainable manner.”
Niyum Gandhi: CFO of Mass General Brigham
Amanda Norris is the Director of Content for HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
While HaH shows strong patient satisfaction, fewer readmissions, and better outcomes, most programs struggle to produce sustainable profit margins.
Traditional hospital overhead models distort ROI. CFOs must design ground-up financial frameworks that isolate true HaH costs.
Programs serving fewer than 30–60 patients per day often cannot reach the cost efficiencies needed to compete with inpatient care.