NEJM Catalyst: Hospital at Home–Plus Reduces Days Spent in Hospitals and Other Inpatient Facilities
A New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst article, "Hospital at Home-Plus Reduces Days Spent in Hospitals and Other Inpatient Facilities," reports on how the Hospital at Home (HaH) model of care, first developed with funding from The John A. Hartford Foundation, has shown increased numbers of days spent at home by patients in the last six months of their life compared to a control group.
"In 2015, The Mount Sinai Health System implemented HaH-Plus through a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) Health Care Innovation Award. HaH-Plus supplements acute HaH services with 30 days of post-acute transition services." The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai received a 2014 grant from The John A. Hartford Foundation that has augmented the CMMI award.
"HaH-Plus patients spent an average of almost 20 days more outside of health care facilities in their last 6 months of life compared to control patients (170.3 days vs. 150.5 days, respectively)," noted researchers Robert M. Zimbroff, Bruce Leff, and Albert L. Siu.
"By disrupting the usual pathways of where acute care is provided, HaH-Plus care creates the opportunity for more days at home at the end of life for a larger number of patients — not as a substitute, but rather as another option for those who do not wish to or have not elected such services."
To read the article, click here.