Home hospitalization is a safer option for older adults which is gaining in popularity.

Many older adults find themselves in a hospital at one time or another.   While hospitalization is sometimes needed, it also adds risks such as unintended infections such as MERSA and other infections that are commonly acquired in hospitals.

A growing movement toward home hospitalization reduces the risks of many hospital-borne illnesses for the elderly while allowing them to recover in their own homes with the needed nursing staff and other caretakers present.

This option has been shown to cost less than traditional hospitalization while allowing the patient to recover in a less risky setting that is more home than an institution.

Hospitalization costs are the main driver of healthcare costs so finding another solution that can improve the experience while decreasing risks and costs makes sense.

Will federal action be taken to make it a reality? CMS refers to this as their hospital without walls program which was borne out of the need for hospital capacity during the covid-19 pandemic.

The NY Times just published an article on this new and growing trend.  Check it out here

What if You Could Go to the Hospital … at Home?

Hospital-at-home care is an increasingly common option, and it is often a safer one for older adults. But the future of the approach depends on federal action.

By Paula Span Nov. 19, 2022

Late last month, Raymond Johnson, 83, began feeling short of breath. “It was difficult just getting around,” he recently recalled by phone from his apartment in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood in Boston. “I could barely walk up and down the stairs without tiring.”

Like many older adults, Mr. Johnson contends with a variety of chronic health problems: arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma, heart failure and the heart arrhythmia known as atrial fibrillation.

His doctor ordered a chest X-ray and, when it showed fluid accumulating in Mr. Johnson’s lungs, told him to head for the emergency room at Faulkner Hospital, which is part of the Mass General Brigham health system.

Read more