Hospital Care At Home To Be The New Norm?

There is growing interest to shift hospital services into patients’ homes, a movement that started even prior to the outbreak of COVID-19.  Startups are providing technology to bring medical services into the home and well-known Venture Capital companies are backing them.  Hospitals are finding that some common illnesses like urinary-tract infections can be effectively treated at home.  This is a very common ailment for seniors and it would be great to see them recover from this at home.  Hospital-at-home care hasn’t taken off in large part due to the fact that insurance companies haven’t covered it.  However, many are trying to convince Medicare and private insurance companies with data published in the Annals of Internal Medicine showing home hospitalization reduced costs, healthcare use and readmissions, while increasing physical activity compared with typical hospital care.  In addition, Medicare recently introduced a new program whereby hospitals can be reimbursed for home care they provide to patients during the pandemic.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/crop-of-startups-move-hospital-care-into-the-home-11614853803