A Hospital at Home Program and the Role of the Care Management Team

For many healthcare systems, a hospital at home program was a necessity born out of COVID-19. At Indiana University (IU) Health, a program that allowed patients to continue treatment and recovery at home after discharge had been discussed before the pandemic, but never put into action. That changed when the pandemic started. They went forward with the program, knowing it was the right time to try it. “There are other programs that have been doing this longer than we have, mostly because we weren’t yet ready to do it,” says Michele Saysana, MD, vice president, chief quality officer, and chief medical officer for virtual health at IU Health. “There was a bit of resistance to doing it at first because so many wondered, ‘How could we possibly deliver care like this in the home?’”

To qualify for a hospital at home program, patients need a caregiver in the home 24/7. As of August 2021, more than 940 patients participated in IU Health’s hospital at home program, which mainly focused on patients with COVID-19 who were discharged early. These patients were sick enough for hospitalization, but were set up with “wraparound support with monitoring, a nursing team, advanced practice providers, and hospitalists” at home to receive a similar level of care, Saysana says.