By Wrangler News Staff
Dignity Chandler Regional Medical Center has confirmed that it will be the site of a new hospital level home care option for patients. The initiative is designed to bring the essential elements of hospital care to the comfort of the home, allowing many patients to avoid a hospital admission.
The Chandler Regional collaboration will be in partnership with CommonSpirit Health and Contessa, a leading operator of home recovery care.
A press release announcing the collaboration said it represents CommonSpirit Health’s latest effort to leverage emerging technology to deliver convenient, consumer-centered health care to its patients. The goal is to expand across Common Spirit’s full system.
Said Dr. Yagnesh Patel, vice president of medical affairs for Dignity Health Chandler Regional and Mercy Gilbert Medical Centers:
“This program allows us to provide enhanced medical care at home for specific condition. When a patient comes into our Chandler Regional Emergency Department with a condition that requires continued inpatient hospital care, in some situations we can now provide the patient with the same level of medical care at home instead of in the hospital.
“This includes remote monitoring, routine visits by nursing and daily telemedicine visits by physicians.
“This service brings all the essential elements of hospital care to the comfort of the home, allowing many patients to avoid a hospital admission.”
Although the hospital-at-home model has been around for a long time, it hasn’t been widespread, in part due to barriers for reimbursement and an expectation for receiving care in a clinical setting, said a spokeswoman.
Advances in technology and evolving patient preferences are now making care at home more realistic for health systems, as evidenced by Contessa’s 92 percent acceptance rate among eligible patients.
“CommonSpirit Health envisions a future for health care with more access points so patients can receive care on their terms,” said Rich Roth, who leads strategic innovation for CommonSpirit Health.
“Our work with Contessa will bring recommended intensive outpatient care into the comfort of one’s home so that we can improve health outcomes and help enhance the overall health of our communities.
“Finding ways to provide high-quality access to care in low cost settings is an essential component of how we must deliver care for the future.”
Officials noted that Contessa has found with one of its provider partners that Home Recovery Care’s complex outpatient care management drives better health outcomes, increasing patient satisfaction by 22 percent, reducing readmission rates by 44 percent, and decreasing the mean length of a hospital stay by 35 percent.
Reducing the need for hospital admissions, this patient-centered approach to treatment empowers people to take control of their health – in the home setting that is familiar and less stressful.
CommonSpirit Health’s investment in this value based solution increases patients’ access to care in the home as a result of Contessa’s established relationships with national payors.
Home Recovery Care will initially be offered to selected Medicare Advantage patients, with the goal of expanding to commercial and Medicaid patients over time.
