Hospital at Home care delivery is a combination of pre-hospitalization, acute, post-acute, and ambulatory services focused on a patient’s individualized care needs.
Hospital at Home programs are being implemented around the world by health systems, home care providers, and managed care programs to cost-effectively treat acutely ill adults while improving patient safety, quality, and satisfaction.
Funding through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and many commercial payers have made establishing and providing this type of patient care a strategic focus for health organizations across the U.S. in 2021 and 2022.
Yet establishing this type of care delivery can feel daunting and many health system teams do not know where to begin or have a clear picture of the areas of growth to address; both of which are needed to enable a distinct maturity path.
Preparing for the future
Hospital at Home’s growth in our industry means that many organizations are under pressure to establish this type of care delivery without the opportunity to thoughtfully plan a strategy and operational approach.
Failing to define a short and long-term Hospital at Home plan will only increase operating costs overall for the health organization as resource and technology expenses are added to meet this demand. Similarly, opportunities will be missed to better connect with patients and their families, and avoid unnecessary ED visits and readmissions.
Our Hospital at Home Program Maturity Model has been developed based on principles and best practices for achieving maturity and maximizing patient care delivery efficiencies for an enterprise-wide approach to Hospital at Home services.
The maturity model contains seven levels with defined patient care capabilities that should be achieved before moving to the next growth level. This approach supports the standardization of a Hospital at Home definition and vision, provides the framework to create an action-oriented execution plan and service goals for the organization. Taking the time to understand the Hospital at Home maturity model and applying it to your organization’s environment will help teams establish a financially sustainable program. Our model provides healthcare organizations with the framework to move from existing traditional home care and siloed care delivery teams towards an enterprise-wide cost-effective pathway to provide a combination of pre-hospitalization, acute, post-acute and ambulatory services focused on a patient’s individualized care needs in their own home.
Final thoughts
A coordinated, mature organization must maximize opportunities to meet patients and their families where they are and provide them with high quality, safe and satisfying care. Take the first step towards establishing Hospital at Home care by leveraging our maturity model to establish an execution plan that achieves incremental patient care capabilities enabling your program’s growth and scalability.