Photo by: Ana Blohm, MD
SUPPORTING GROUNDBREAKING INNOVATIONS IN HOSPITAL AT HOME
As its name suggests, hospital at home programs make acute, hospital-level care available to adults and particularly older adults where they live, rather than in a traditional hospital setting. Interest in hospital at home and its patient-centered and cost-effective approach to improving outcomes, particularly for vulnerable patients, has exploded recently. The Hospital at Home Users Group™ was formed to build on this excitement.
A dynamic collaborative of hospital at home programs around the United States and Canada, the Users Group is sharing resources and best practices, working together to expand the reach of our programs, and developing the program and policy standards to inform regulatory and reimbursement policies necessary to spread this hopeful model broadly throughout North America.
Research Projects underway
The Users Group conducts research about the larger Hospital at Home community and movement. Currently, there are two projects underway. We encourage Users Group members from active Hospital at Home programs to participate.
1. Caregiver Study: Researchers from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, in partnership with the Users Group, are conducting a study to explore caregiver-related issues in Hospital at Home. They are seeking individuals in clinical HaH Program Leadership to participate in an interview to discuss their perspectives on caregiving in HaH–specifically, challenges and strategies related to caregiver engagement, technical assistance needs of caregivers, and opportunities to improve caregiver support–as well as equity issues in HaH. Additionally, participants will be asked to assist in disseminating study recruitment flyers to caregivers in their programs. If you have questions or would like to participate, please contact Gabrielle Schiller at gabrielle.schiller@mssm.edu.
2. Minimum Data Set Survey: The Users Group is looking to build a Minimum Data Set of patient and safety data for Hospital at Home programs. This project helps the Hospital at Home community improve their programs and gauge how they compare to others. The Users Group would like to identify one person per site to submit a yearly extract of patient and safety data. The data would be de-identified and the site would remain anonymous. If you would like to represent your site, please sign up at https://bit.ly/MDSsurvey. For questions or more information, please contact Gabrielle Schiller at gabrielle.schiller@mssm.edu.
Visit the Technical Assistance Center
Looking for insight and resources to help guide your hospital at home program?
The HaH Users Group, in partnership with the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC), has gathered an array of practical help into a one-stop Hospital at Home Technical Assistance Center. Expanding every day, this site includes case studies and implementation tools, links to resources on special topics, as well as our webinar series, and information on the CMS Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver and program.
Office Hours are now available on a monthly basis in our Events center, where you can meet in small groups with Hospital at Home Users Group™ leaders and get useful insights into the challenges that you are facing as you start or grow a hospital at home program.
Take a look at the Hospital at Home Users Group™ Technical Assistance Center, and check back regularly to take advantage of this useful resource.
Join the Users Group
Interested in getting news from the Hospital at Home Users Group™ and being part of the growing movement to deliver high quality, acute care at home?
Fill out our Hospital at Home Users Group™ prospective members form.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Watch Our Webinar Series
The Hospital at Home Users Group™, in partnership with the American Academy of Home Care Medicine, has developed an ongoing webinar series for hospital and system leaders interested in learning about implementation opportunities and challenges associated with the new CMS waiver supporting Acute Hospital Care at Home.
Since December 2020, we have conducted twenty-three webinars on a variety of topics. Please see our Webinars page to review all the recordings and slides.
FEATURED Resource
Patient Eligibility, Referral, and Intake
Guidance on designing patient eligibility criteria, including sample inclusion and exclusion criteria, screening guides, and patient consent forms.
FEATURED SITE
UnityPoint Health
UnityPoint launched Hospital to Home Services in 2018, as part of a larger suite of programs offered through their Care at Home Services umbrella.