‘ Hospital at Home ’ Could Be the Future of Health Care. Not Everyone Thinks It ’ s a Good Idea

In July 2022, Rudie Watzig collapsed. The diagnosis was as serious as it was unexpected—cirrhosis of the liver—and it landed him in the intensive care unit for what he considered a period of sheer torture. “I hated it. I hated being in the hospital,” says Watzig, 44, of Portland, Oregon. “Not seeing my kids … not having my wife there … not having my nice Purple mattress to sleep on.” [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] So imagine his chagrin when he was again rushed to the emergency room a few months later, this time for breathing problems due to fluid buildup around his lungs that needed to be drained with a needle in his back. His heart sank at the thought of another hospitalization stemming from his liver disease—until he was told that once stabilized, he could try something different: hospital at home. You read that right: inpatient-style care for serious medical issues within the comfort of one’s home. “This isn’t home health light, it is true hospital-level care,” says Colleen Hole, a vice president and chief nurse executive with Atrium Health, a North Carolina-based health system that runs what is thought to be the nation’s largest hospital-at-home program, which Hole oversees. “This model actually delivers care to the patient, like pizza, but way better.” Hospitals and health systems around the country have been rolling out flavors of “acute hospi...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Health Care Source Type: news