Hospital-at-Home: What's the latest?

The move to “Hospital-at-Home” makes a whole lot of sense. The vast majority of us do not want to spend any time at the hospital if we don’t have to. Home is comfortable and it feels safe, while hospitals are sterile. Most of us dread the cold, stark lighting and the sound of the beeping machines that mean you can never get a proper night’s rest.

If we don’t have to be at the hospital - because a cheaper and more patient-friendly alternative exists - then why not do that?

Well, health care is moving in the right direction. This week, I moderated a panel with Best Buy, Amazon and Advocate Health to probe the success of these programs and the results so far. The big question is, of course, reimbursement. In the long-term, who is going to pay for these programs, which involve health professionals in the home and an assortment of technology and devices to monitor the patient remotely? And what happens when the CMS Waiver, implemented in the height of the pandemic, expires at the end of the year?