Hospital-at-home and virtual care are increasingly popular healthcare delivery models. These alternatives to inpatient care are increasingly available in areas where demand exceeds capacity and staffing shortages are common. The model helps control costs, giving hospitals a less expensive alternative to care in a traditional setting. JAMA also reports a clinical trial indicating that these solutions are feasible models for rural areas where patients live hours away from hospitals and in-person care.

This model became a viable option for healthcare organisations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services authorised the model in November 2020. Then, Congress extended the waiver that allows hospitals to bypass 24/7, in-person nursing through 2030, allowing hospitals to receive the same reimbursement as if patients were admitted to the hospital. However, CMS requires strict safety measures and daily virtual or in-person visits, according to a CMS Data Sheet.

The Patient Outcome Benefits of Hospital-at-Home and Virtual Care

The model can successfully provide care for patients with heart failure, COPD, pneumonia, or other conditions that their physicians determine that they can monitor and manage remotely. Furthermore, patients often prefer care in their homes, where they have more freedom over their day-to-day activities. Patients also benefit from a lower risk of hospital-acquired infections, and, in general, they have faster recoveries, fewer complications, and require fewer readmissions, according to the AMA.

Health Leaders reports 373 U.S. hospitals in 139 health systems in 39 states now follow the hospital-at-home and virtual care model. To ensure the best experiences and outcomes for the thousands of patients receiving healthcare services via this model, organisations must deploy the right technology to closely monitor patients and deliver the highest quality of care.

Supporting Hospital-at-Home with Technology

Whether offering full hospital-at-home or home health, chronic care, or post-acute services, combining 24/7 remote monitoring with in-person visits requires a comprehensive, specialised healthcare technology stack, including:

Remote Patient Monitoring and Wearables

Extending care to the home requires enterprise-grade technology outside the hospital's local IT environment. Clinicians need technology that reliably monitors temperature, pulse, respiration, blood pressure, and other vital signs. Depending on the patient's condition, clinicians may also need data, including weight for monitoring fluid retention, air capacity and flow for chronic lung diseases, carbon dioxide for respiratory distress, or blood glucose for diabetes. Clinicians may prescribe wearables for continuous monitoring or healthcare technology that periodically captures critical data.

Secure Video Conferencing

Telehealth and virtual examinations that replace in-person rounds must be reliable and secure. Both the patient and the clinician must have reliable internet connections. Unlike a hospital's network, home internet service can be unreliable, and if connectivity fails, care fails. For that reason, the model requires networking solutions that combine wired and wireless connectivity with cellular failovers.

Clinicians and patients also need devices with cameras and microphones with endpoint protection for telehealth meetings on a secure video conferencing platform. The best user experiences seamlessly integrate remote monitoring with the video conferencing platform, so clinicians have immediate access to all necessary data during patient interactions.

Clinical Mobility for In-Person Visits

Clinical mobility solutions are the foundation of remote care, fully equipping clinicians in the field. Hospital-grade mobility solutions essential for in-home care include:

● Rugged tablets and mobile computers for nurses and field clinicians. Enterprise mobility devices should be built-for-purpose, ruggedised, and able to resist damage from liquid spills, drops to a hard surface, and temperature changes as clinicians carry them from the outside to the patient's home.

● Clinicians need devices equipped with push-to-talk communications to reach members of the care team in the hospital.

● Barcode scanners for tracking assets and supplies and accurate medication administration.

● Mobile printers to generate labels, track prescriptions, and create documents.

Managing clinical mobility solutions for in-home services is vital to ensure that devices are updated, maintained, and delivering reliable performance. Healthcare organisations providing in-home and virtual care need secure device management via mobile device management or unified endpoint management (MDM/UEM) and devices backed by ongoing support and lifecycle services.

Inventory Management and Asset Tracking

Healthcare organisations must have a real-time view of where equipment is for informed decision-making about leasing or purchasing more devices or, in some cases, delaying the transfer of a patient to at-home care. Asset tracking with radio-frequency identification (RFID) or barcode technology allows healthcare organisations to capture data on equipment location in addition to tracking its inspection, calibration, maintenance, and disinfection history.

Tracking devices and equipment also helps healthcare organisations decrease misplaced or stolen equipment, which can add up to thousands in losses.

AI and Analytics

Organizations collect massive volumes of data from hospital-at-home technology and virtual care solutions. The care team needs to know immediately if numbers fall outside of safe ranges. Data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) empower care teams with up-to-date data insights and automated alerts.

How to Effectively Expand Care Beyond the 4 Walls of the Hospital

When clinicians determine that the best care plan for patients is hospital-at-home and virtual care, they need to ensure they implement the optimal technology to support it, backed by service and support to ensure reliable performance.

Levata has a track record of successful deployments at scale, managing in-home and virtual care solutions for diverse care teams caring for thousands of patients across wide geographic areas. Levata assists with device selection and offers staging, kitting, and imaging in addition to preconfigured, field-ready solutions. Levata also provides logistics and rapid deployment to ensure necessary solutions are available for patients when needed.

Additionally, Levata's team offers lifecycle support for equipment and devices to ensure maximum uptime and continuity of care. Levata can back devices with repair, replacement, and support, such as TrueSupport, including advanced exchange and spare pool management, help desk, and remote support, and the TrueView visibility platform that shows the status of repairs and contracts.

To learn more about reliable, secure, compliant hospital-at-home technology and virtual care solutions, contact us.