News and Market Developments
Healthcare Dive: What's holding up hospital at home? (3/17) - Widespread adoption of acute-level care at home models has been hampered by physician reluctance, patchwork reimbursement, and concerns about higher costs. "Most healthcare organizations say moving care to the home is a strategic priority," Chris McCann, CEO of care-at-home tech platform Current Health, told Healthcare Dive on the sidelines of the HIMSS annual conference on Wednesday. "Fewer have done that."
Fierce Healthcare: Moody's: Shift away from inpatient care will continue to shrink hospital margins (3/17) - Moody's Investor Service predicts that rates of inpatient care will drop due to changing reimbursement models, advances in drugs and medical devices and growing investment in outpatient services. While some hospitals and health systems were already using at-home acute care models before the pandemic, many more will look to provide acute care services at patients’ homes. Moody's also noted that hospitals nationally are accelerating investments in outpatient services.
Healio: Staff assistance, improved technology are key for home dialysis to succeed (3/16) - Due to advances in home hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis, qualified patients who are properly prepared and supported throughout home-based care can achieve greater quality of life at lower cost compared with conventional in-center hemodialysis (ICHD). Currently, staff-assisted home care is not possible for many patients with dialysis and their providers due to structural and economic barriers, but this must change. Home assistance can provide a buffer for patients who are initially too nervous to self-administer treatment, eventually giving them the confidence and familiarity needed to succeed in home-based therapy.
Healthcare Dive: Pandemic hastens shift away from hospital inpatient care, Moody's reports (3/16) - New research from Moody's Investor Service shows that the long-term shift from hospital-based care toward more treatment delivered in the home and ambulatory centers picked up pace during the COVID-19 pandemic due to a surge in telehealth use and a drop in emergency room visits. Additionally, an increasing number of providers are focused on expanding in-home acute care admissions. This shift is expected to continue to gain momentum, pressuring revenue growth and margins in the hospital sector.
Mobi Health News: Hospitals at home poised to save money, keep the patient in familiar environment (3/16) - Panelists at HIMSS22 discussed the benefits and challenges of implementing a hospital-at-home program. Increasingly, health systems are offering hospital-at-home services: according to a HIMSS white paper, in-home hospitalizations save between $5,000 and $7,000 per episode. CMS' Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver allows for CMS to reimburse the hospital-at-home service at in-patient rates, if patients meet certain criteria for admissions, under the Public Health Emergency.
Fierce Healthcare: HIMSS 2022: Health systems see virtual care companies as biggest competitive threat: report (3/16) - 11% of health systems report being in the implementation phase of their personalized care and digital transformation journeys, but many have identified specific priorities for digital transformation efforts: remote patient monitoring (78%), digitally enabled service center (74%), digital specialty care (71%), digital-first primary care (70%), digital front door (69%) and hospital at home (60%). Planning for hospital at home has also increased considerably since last year: one in three respondents to The Chartis Group's 2021 survey said they had no plans for hospital at home in the next five years. Just nine months later, only one in five still have no plans.
PR Newswire: Andor Health and Microsoft Partner to Extend Virtual Care to Include Hospital at Home (3/15) - ThinkAndor Virtual Patient Monitoring and Hospital at Home now connects to a variety of devices to track a patient's health status remotely. Clinicians can monitor a patient's health, and care managers can effectively manage large patient populations regardless of the severity of their chronic condition. The same platform can also unlock a variety of inpatient monitoring scenarios such as Virtual Rounding and Telesitting. Hospitals and health systems can deploy one comprehensive platform to monitor and intervene to provide the best medical care for patients while in the hospital or at home.
STAT News: Covid-19 and telehealth: Holding on to the gains of remote care (3/15) Despite the newness of telehealth for many people, a recent report from Moving Health Home found that 73% of adults said they were confident in the quality of clinical care they received in the home, and 66% said it should be a priority for the federal government to increase access to clinical care in the home.
Post and Courier: Hospital-at-Home programs may help some patients, but face roadblocks in SC (3/14) - Two health systems in South Carolina are trying to provide Hospital-at-Home programs past the pandemic. One has been turned down by South Carolina’s public health agency — while the other is still operating its program. “The licensure and certificate of need laws make clear that hospital services are provided at the hospital, not at a patient’s residence,” said Ron Aiken, director of media relations for the Department of Health and Environmental Control. While this program is on pause for now, the hospital system has gained support from Charleston County’s state legislative delegation, as 14 representatives signed a letter of support to Gov. Henry McMaster calling for a temporary waiver to immediately grant Roper ability to provide at-home care across the Charleston region.
Home Health Care News: Study Shows SNF-at-Home Care Feasible, Less Costly (3/14) - According to a study by researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital, seniors who received skilled care at home – instead of at a skilled nursing facility (SNF) – could experience considerable benefits, including better patient experience and lower costs. According to the study’s findings, rehabilitation-at-home (RAH) as a substitute for traditional SNF care has “favorable signals in patient experience, functional status, cost and days at home.” The researchers concluded that following a similar trial on a larger scale, RAH could become the standard. Findings also showed the median cost of care for patients receiving RAH was $8,404, compared to $9,215 for the SNF residents.
Healio: Group asks CMS to allow manufacturers, non-nursing staff to provide home dialysis training (3/14) - Innovate Kidney Care (IKC) wants CMS to update regulations to allow dialysis machine manufacturers and non-nursing personnel to provide home dialysis training. Coalition members said the update is needed to give dialysis providers more flexibility in providing home dialysis training. Outset Medical and other IKC members who authored the position paper said much of the need for change is based on a “rapidly increasing” shortage of nurses.
Managed Healthcare Executive: 5 Trends to Watch in 2022 Healthcare Hiring (3/14) - The first trend listed is "More opportunities for home healthcare and telehealth positions". Home visits and telemedicine are being used to help manage chronic disease, a variety of issues facing the elderly population, mental health issues, and more. With this trend, Managed Healthcare Executive expects to see more of the responsibilities normally handled within a medical facility to now be managed by clinicians outside of the office and inside of the home, increasing the demand for these essential home healthcare positions.
Fierce Healthcare: SXSW 2022: Best Buy, Samsung placing big bets on home health care as more seniors want to age in place (3/13) - Data shows that most adults 50 and older (77%) want to remain in their homes for the long term. This opens up the potential to use technologies to help seniors age at home, and it's a business opportunity that isn't lost on technology company Samsung and retail giant Best Buy. In 2018, Best Buy shelled out $800 million cash for Great Call, a provider of connected health and personal emergency response services to the aging population, with more than 900,000 paying subscribers. The company also has partnerships with telehealth company TytoCare for its remote medical exam kit, in-home healthcare startup Workpath for in-home blood draws and ScriptDrop for medication delivery. Samsung wants to build an ecosystem of partners among digital health companies who can build applications for its wearables and devices.
Home Health Care News: Immigration Pathway Could Boost Home-Based Care Workforce (3/13) - Over 7 million more direct care workers will be needed by 2029 in the U.S., according to a 2021 report from PHI. At least 4.5 million of those will need to be home care workers, and potentially more given rising demand. While the share of non-U.S. born workers in home-based care has increased steadily since 1980, a visa program that had home health aide specifically mentioned as a qualified occupation was discontinued in 2009 and has since thwarted continued growth. If that pathway was reenacted, it would immediately help home-based care providers. Other short-term fixes include a mimicking of the Au Pair program, which allows immigrants to care for U.S. children. Instead of children, in this case, it would be seniors. Lisa Rometty, president of CVS Kidney Care, said this type of care management could raise the bar for quality care and make the healthcare system less reactionary.
Mobi Health News: How tech support can encourage in-home chronic condition management, senior care (3/11) - During a panel discussion at ViVE, panelists discussed the importance of set-up support and provider input when using technology for managing chronic conditions in the home. Managing chronic conditions in the home using remote monitoring, virtual care and other tools is an increasingly popular space in digital health.
AJMC: Contributor: Medicare Should Empower Patients With CKD to Choose Home-Based Health Therapy Options (3/12) - From telehealth to home health reform, many of our country’s most vulnerable patients have been able to rest, recover, and avoid the risk of COVID-19 transmission by receiving treatment in the comfort and safety of their living rooms. However, we must continue to build on these innovations in order to streamline care for one of America’s most vulnerable populations: patients with kidney disease. Continued medical innovation has led to a safe and effective oral treatment for renal anemia that can be taken at home rather than through IV infusion in a clinical setting. With the growing popularity of telemedicine, in-home laboratory testing, and home healthcare, it make sense to allow Americans with renal anemia to be treated safely in the comfort of their own homes.
Becker's Hospital Review: Hospital at home playbook: Lessons from Mayo Clinic, Michigan Medicine and Presbyterian Health (3/9) - Hospital-at-home programs are proliferating across the country, as more health systems partner with companies like Medically Home or create their own internal programs. Waiver flexibilities spurred by the pandemic have also made such programs more viable to hospitals. However, getting a program up and running is no easy feat. Becker's spoke to three health systems that have successfully launched hospital-at-home programs and agreed to share advice and insights on their efforts.
U.S. News: The Post-Pandemic Role of Virtual Care (3/9) - To that end, a group of providers that includes Intermountain Healthcare, Ascension and Amazon Care recently formed a coalition — called Moving Health Home — to advocate for policy changes to designate the home as a site of clinical care. Members argue that advances in medical record-sharing, remote monitoring technologies and digital therapeutics have made it possible to deliver even acute care in the home in many cases. Salt Lake City-based Intermountain, for example, treats patients at home with everything from heart failure to some types of cancer with a combination of technology and visits from an interdisciplinary caregiving team.
Home Health Care News: Key Barriers Could Limit Adoption of Home-Based Care Models (3/9) - Despite that positive movement in the home-based care market, a few key barriers could limit broader adoption and growth in the sector, experts caution. Some of those barriers include an uncertain regulatory environment in a post-COVID-19 world, overly restrictive requirements for hospital-at-home programs and significant variability in requirements for providers across state lines. That’s according to a recent report from Moving Health Home, a coalition of home-focused health care organizations.
In Touch Weekly: The Hottest Health Trends to Look Out for in 2022 (3/4) - The first trend listed is Healthcare in the Home. Offering the opportunity to treat and diagnose without the potential risk of spreading disease in person has not only helped more patients stay safe during the pandemic but has also increased access to healthcare for those who need it most. “This year, there will be a continued focus on ways that those from overlooked communities can get access to the care that they need,” says Juan Pablo Cappello, Co-founder and CEO of Nue Life. “The quicker and easier we can all get in touch with healthcare professionals, the better it will be for everyone. Tech is helping us to do that.”
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