Many essential hospitals have used an innovative program—the Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver — to provide hospital-level care in patients’ homes. The benefits of home hospital care to patients have been well-documented. Patient satisfaction scores are high, and complications such as falls and readmissions are lower when care is appropriately provided in the home. Of particular relevance to essential hospitals, hospital-level care in the home provides a unique opportunity to understand patients’ social context and to identify barriers to health, including challenges to medication adherence, worsening memory impairment, and resource limitations.
America’s Essential Hospitals commends the flexibility Congress has provided to date for hospitals to test this effective care delivery method. This flexibility has allowed hospitals to leverage technology to provide effective access to care and increased capacity through alternative care sites. As Congress continues to consider hospital-at-home legislation, it should make permanent policies that allow providers to expand access to care, including hospital-at-home, to improve the health of their communities.
Federal policymakers have shown bipartisan support in extending the hospital-at-home waiver program, which currently supports 380 hospitals in 39 states. In the 119th Congress, America’s Essential Hospitals will continue to support legislation that extends the waiver or makes these policies permanent.
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