The health care industry is beginning to accept hospital at home as a standard of care for more conditions. But the future of these programs—at least for Medicare patients—is unclear.
The benefits of hospital-at-home programs are clear, however. A recent report from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) revealed hospital-at-home care produces lower hospital readmission rates, skilled nursing utilization and mortality than comparable brick-and-mortar care.
We will likely continue to see the prevalence of hospital at home in the U.S. As such, it is important to understand how home medical equipment (HME) providers can prepare for the future.
1. Invest in the right tech.
Many health systems focus on technology investments that can complement their infrastructure while supporting hospital-at-home models, including remote patient monitoring platforms, telehealth systems and integrated electronic medical records systems (EMRs). However, HME providers should consider investing in logistics technology that enables real-time, on-demand orders to be fulfilled directly from physicians or hospital employees and delivered to patients’ homes. These technology platforms can integrate seamlessly with the hospital EMRs so orders can be quickly processed, picked, packed and delivered.
HME providers are used to longer lead times for insurance verifications and authorizations. These platforms work like current hospital systems, in which a three-way communication platform is opened between the health care provider, payer and HME distributor that expedites the supplies fulfillment process.
2. Review your billing & invoicing practices.
It is important to consider whether you are poised for the emerging types of reimbursement models that may become more common under hospital-at-home programs. For example, it could be beneficial to align your incentives with the costs and outcomes of a bundled program or payment option. Some questions to review would be: How would you need to adjust the way you do billing to match the needs of this different type of home-based distribution method? What does the reimbursement landscape look like for the most common hospital-at-home diagnoses, and are your services priced to provide value within that reimbursement structure?
3. Build important strategic partnerships.
Currently, hospital-at-home programs are largely being driven by health systems, which offer them to their patients as an option for admission. However, virtual care providers, primary care physicians and even payers could offer these services in the future. To build strategic partnerships, think about which providers benefit the most from keeping patients out of the hospital and imagine the mix of services that would help them provide this care at home. Consider how to partner with these providers so you can be the simplest solution to their needs.
4. Review your warehouse, inventory & sourcing strategies.
Patients receiving high-acuity care in the home will require different medical supplies than what you may typically distribute as an HME provider. Some of these specialized supplies might include remote monitoring technology, medically approved meals, medical gases or equipment, as well as supplies that support intravenous fluid delivery, health statistics monitoring or ongoing oxygen support. Think about how adding these supplies may shift your inventory and sourcing strategy—and remember inventory and labor planning for hospital-at-home fulfillment will look different than your traditional HME provider business.
Consider how your current logistics and order fulfillment processes work their way through the warehouse. With hospital-at-home programs, speed is a top priority. Ensure the products you may need are readily available. Also, make sure you have immediate access to a short-haul delivery vehicle that can be regularly outfitted with these types of supplies. Velocare maintains a fleet of these vehicles customized with supplies every hospital-at-home patient will likely need, making it easier to add extra equipment and supplies for specific needs when we get the call to dispatch products to a patient.
Finally, consider where you are located geographically. Are your warehouses near major metropolitan areas—or, better yet, within the center of a community? As hospital-at-home programs continue to expand, we’re likely to see the availability of these programs in more rural parts of our country, but they are currently more common in larger metropolitan areas near major health systems. As an HME provider, your inventory needs to be centrally located so you can get to a patient’s home in that region as quickly as possible.
5. Prepare for extensions of this model of care.
Hospital at home has some obvious uses beyond how it is currently being implemented. This care model can easily be adapted to fit more complicated conditions and at-home treatments, such as providing skilled nursing care inside the home. We can utilize our expertise in this area to further grow home health care beyond how it’s currently serving patients in the industry.
The technology to support hospital-at-home programs is foundational to the expansion of these types of services—and now that we’ve laid the groundwork for how successfully patients can treat acute illness from their homes, it will be easier to treat more complicated medical conditions and needs.
I’m confident that hospital-at-home is just the start of a brand-new frontier for patient care.