JAMA Article: Pandemic Boosts an Old Idea—Bringing Acute Care to the Patient
JAMA Network has published an article, "Pandemic Boosts an Old Idea—Bringing Acute Care to the Patient."
The article opens with the story of a 54-year old veteran who had a positive experience receiving care at home for COVID-19 pneumonia. Many patients have had negative experiences with extended hospital care, "Long before COVID-19 took root, emerging interest in acute care at home had little to do with bed shortages. In the early 1990s, Bruce Leff, MD, a second-year resident at what’s now called Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, was making house calls in southeast Baltimore when he encountered acutely ill older patients who refused to go to the hospital. Previous inpatient ordeals of loneliness, confusion, and treatment delays had left them traumatized...Leff focused on developing a model to treat patients who were sick enough to be hospitalized but unlikely to have complications such as chest pain that require immediate attention at a hospital."
The author talks about the development of hospital-at-home programs and notes that the forces of the pandemic are speeding up the adoption of home care, helped by CMS' November 2020 temporary waiver. Practicalities are explained. "A hospital-at-home users’ group has run webinars covering topics such as establishing inclusion and exclusion criteria, investing in telehealth and remote monitoring, organizing logistics, delivering ancillary services such as physical therapy and imaging, and monitoring safety."
To read the article, click here.
