Hospital-at-home grows despite regulatory uncertainty

Hospital-at-home grows despite regulatory uncertainty
Modern Healthcare; by Diane Eastabrook; 5/17/24
Health systems and technology companies are betting big on home-based hospital care, despite regulatory uncertainty about the program’s future. Hospitals are bullish on at-home acute care because it can save money and make more beds available in their facilities for sicker patients. Medicare also pays health systems the same rate as it would for an inpatient admission. Since January, two health systems and 16 hospitals launched hospital-at-home programs under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver, bringing the total number of programs to 336 across 37 states, according to the agency’s website. More programs are slated to launch this year as Congress considers whether to extend the waiver beyond its Dec. 31 expiration date. Hospital-at-home allows certain patients to receive acute-level care where they live through telehealth and in-person visits, supplemented with remote patient monitoring. The concept gained traction during the COVID-19 pandemic when CMS approved a waiver in 2020 to alleviate overcrowding in hospitals. Large health systems, including Mass General Brigham, Geisinger and the Cleveland Clinic have invested heavily in home-based acute care. Many smaller hospital systems are doing the same by leveraging in-home care technology.