Hospital-at-home programs for intensive-care patients spread

[cali]

By Rick M. Scibelli, for USA TODAY

ALBUQUERQUE – The man's face was pasty, his eyes closed as he lay back in bed waiting for a wave of nausea to pass. Physician Elizabeth Ward bent over him after checking his temperature, blood pressure and oxygen levels and finding that all were normal.

"Would you rather stay home or go to the hospital?" she asked Frank Blondin, 52, who suffers from severe rheumatoid arthritis and heart disease. He also had a nasty diarrhea-inducing bacterial infection. "Home," Blondin responded without any hesitation.

Soon, the doctor was managing a "hospital at home" admission — an arrangement that provides intensive care and monitoring in the quiet of a patient's own bedroom. Medical supplies and medications would be delivered as soon as possible, she told Blondin's wife, Pamela. A nurse would come within the hour, take laboratory samples, and return later that afternoon and in the days to come. Ward would check in by phone and visit daily, and help would be available 24/7, if required.


Hospital-at-home programs refashion care for chronically ill patients with acute medical issues, testing traditional notions of how to treat people who become seriously ill. Only a handful of the initiatives exist, including the Albuquerque program, run by Presbyterian Healthcare Services, and programs in Portland, Ore., Honolulu, Boise and New Orleans, offered through the Veterans Health Administration.

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http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/story/2012-05-29/home-hospital-care/55268518/1

[HeiressofBickworth]

1. Whether in-hospital on in-home

you can bet your sweet bippy the insurance companies will only cover the least expensive, regardless of which provides the best care.

[NV Whino]

2. Be wary of in home care

Insurance companies won't pay for it despite the fact that it is frequently cheaper.

I'm out $1200 to prove it. Also, they had to bring in an RN from the next county because there were no RNs in my county to insert IVs. My local hospital is 5 minutes down the road. Next time I needed an infusion, I went down to out patient services, spent a boring 4 hours and saved $1200.

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. +1