enough to be hospitalized, but don’t need
intensive care.
COVID-19 patients are eligible. Six health
systems already offering “hospital-at-home” care
were approved to participate in the Medicare
program immediately.
“We’re at a new level of crisis response with
COVID-19” and this option will help hospitals
increase their capacity to help more patients, CMS
Administrator Seema Verma said in a statement.
Hospitals would need to meet certain standards
to participate. Those include providing twice-
daily visits by medical workers and equipment
such as blood pressure and oxygen-level
monitors, and keeping patients connected via
an iPad or other device to a command center
should they need help. Medicare would pay
hospitals the same rate as for in-hospital care.
Earlier in the pandemic, CMS expanded
coverage for telemedicine appointments and
launched a program paying for care in field
hospitals and hotels.
“This will help health systems create capacity
to care for patients during the surge,” said Dr.
Bruce Leff, a geriatrics professor at Johns Hopkins
School of Medicine and a home hospital pioneer.
He said hospital-at-home programs have
proven benefits for patients and can prevent
complications they might experience
in a hospital.
Leff helped CMS plan the program, along with
experts at major hospitals already running such
programs and three companies that contract with
hospitals to run programs for them: Medically
Home, Contessa Health and Dispatch Health.
Image: Flavio Lo Scalzo