WSJ Letter to the Editor: Prescriptions for the Hospitals of the Future
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published a Letter to the Editor by Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, FAAN, President of The John A. Hartford Foundation, under the title, "Prescriptions for the Hospitals of the Future."
The letter was in response to the article, “What the Hospitals of the Future Look Like,” that featured several innovations including an evidence-based, cost-effective program, Hospital at Home, that delivers hospital-level care in the home.
"What we need now is a way for Medicare to reimburse clinicians for evidence-based, cost-effective hospital-level care in the home, which isn’t feasible under the traditional fee-for-service system. The Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee (PTAC), created under recent legislation, has recommended implementation of a hospital-at-home payment mechanism to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services."
"This is the first payment model that the committee has recommended for full implementation and it is awaiting a determination from HHS. Until Medicare has a way to pay for the program, it won’t recoup the cost savings associated with avoiding hospitalizations and people in need will remain unable to receive this innovative and effective type of care," said Dr. Fulmer.
To read the WSJ Letter to the Editor, click here.
To read the WSJ “What the Hospitals of the Future Look Like,” click here.
To learn more about Hospital-at-Home, click here.
The John A. Hartford Foundation has supported the early development of the Hospital at Home model and is currently funding work at Mount Sinai in New York to help spread the model to more sites.