Pandemic Awakens Need for at-Home Hospital Care in Northern California

With the pandemic escalating at the end of 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began a temporary program to allow some non-COVID-19 patients to be cared for at their home rather than the hospital. To help free up more hospital beds, CMS launched its Acute Hospital Care at Home program on Nov. 25, 2020, putting aside its normal regulations to allow hospitals increased flexibility. The program is available to certified-Medicare hospitals that meet stringent criteria. CMS has not yet announced an end date because the pandemic is ongoing.

However, treating acutely ill patients at their home instead of a hospital isn’t a new concept. For more than 20 years, other countries have embraced the practice of freeing up hospital beds, keeping patients more comfortable and saving money through at-home hospital care. The model of care hasn’t been used much in the U.S. because of prohibitive government regulations.