Hospital-at-home care’s future still hangs in the balance

Hospital-at-home care’s future still hangs in the balance 
Home Health Care News; by Joyce Famakinwa; 10/7/24 
Even with a proven track record for clinical effectiveness and cost savings, the hospital-at-home model’s future hangs in the balance. “The data suggests that, for the populations that have been studied in multiple different places, it’s a very safe service to be done and with high-quality care, low readmission rates, low escalation rates, low infection rates,” Dr. Adam Groff, co-founder Maribel Health, told Home Health Care News. “The bottom line is people love it, patients love it and it’s a high-quality care experience.” ... In 2020, the hospital-at-home model had its breakthrough. Though the model was common internationally, it was considered niche in the U.S. This changed with the introduction of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Acute Hospital Care At Home program. A recent report from CMS found that the program has been largely successful. ... Despite the momentum the model has seen in recent years, challenges still exist when it comes to operations and scalability. Specifically, less than 9% of waiver-approved hospitals accounted for more than 70% of all U.S. admissions, according to data from MedPAC’s June 2024 report to Congress. ...