USA: How Mass General Brigham built the largest 'hospital at home'

Mass General Brigham in the USA has built the biggest hospital-at-home programme in the country by getting buy-in from leadership and clinicians and through tech partnerships, executives said at a recent conference.

The health system now has a capacity for acute hospital care at home of 70 patients, and is currently treating about 50 to 60 a day. The goal is to move to 10% of Mass General Brigham's overall capacity, or about 200 to 300 patients.

"I'm really thrilled we are the largest home hospital in the country," Mass General Brigham President and CEO Anne Klibanski, MD, said at the health system's World Medical Innovation Forum in Everett, Mass.

She cited the programme as a way the health system could stay afloat and thrive amid financial challenges affecting the industry, with lower costs and better outcomes for patients at home. She also said it's a benefit of partnering with tech companies; Best Buy Health provides the in-home technology. "That's what they do. They bring technology into the home," she said. "That's what they're known for."

The programme, which Mass General Brigham calls Home Hospital, typically treats patients with conditions like COPD flare-ups, heart failure exacerbations, acute infections and complex cellulitis.

"It's not typically comfortable to be cared for in the emergency room," Dr. Britton said at the conference.

Heather O'Sullivan, APRN, president of Mass General Brigham Healthcare at Home, said it's been estimated that 30% of inpatient care will move to the home in the next five years, representing $82 billion in revenue. "This is a tremendous opportunity," she said at the panel.

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Source: Becker's Health IT, 27 September 2024