Introduction
Building on existing playbooks and resources supporting digitally enabled care, the American Medical Association conducted research to explore the different ways health care is and can be provided in the home.
Today the majority of care services are delivered in clinics, physicians’ offices and facilities. With an increasing disease burden and an aging population, health systems are experiencing hospital beds and clinics at capacity, physicians and care teams who are overextended and burnt out, and higher per patient expenditures than anywhere else in the world. There is a desire to provide higher quality care and improve access, clinical outcomes and experiences.
Delivering care in the home has emerged as not only a possible solution to points of friction, but a way to transform how we think about caring for patients.
Overview
The AMA report titled The State of Health at Home Models: Key Considerations and Opportunities (PDF) offers a comprehensive guide that outlines the concept and benefits of delivering care to patients in their home environments.
Advancements in digital and health care technologies have paved the way for the return to care at home when appropriate and underscores the potential of health at home programs as an option for various types of care, including acute, chronic, preventative, and end-of-life care, while promoting personalization and better patient outcomes.
Key considerations
- Assess how the evolving landscape including policy, coverage, and payment impacts health at home programs.
- Determine whether your practice or organization should build your health at home program internally or partner with another organization.
- Consider required training to strengthen your mobile workforce, which is a core component of health at home programs.
- Ensure you understand the unique and varied circumstances of each home environment and plan for the patient and caregiver experience in detail.
- Develop the infrastructure up front that will provide the necessary tools to appropriately handle the flow of resources and information to provide patient care as required by your specific program.
