Mayo Clinic and Kaiser Permanente announced this week that they will collaborate to build capacity for hospital-at-home care.  

The partnership will begin with a reported $100 million combined investment in Medically Home Group, which provides a technology platform aimed at allowing providers to address a range of acute clinical conditions safely in a patient's home.

"Rarely in the history of medicine do we see such a perfect alignment of policy, technology and cultural transformation converging to produce a new care paradigm like acute care at home," said Dr. John Halamka, president of Mayo Clinic Platform, in a statement.   

"We can advance the well-being of patients by catalyzing innovative, collaborative, knowledge-driven platform business models to redefine the standard of high-acuity care for patients with serious or complex illnesses who currently receive care in hospitals," Halamka continued.  

WHY IT MATTERS  

Technology aimed at blurring the lines between at-home care and in-hospital services has taken on a renewed spotlight amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, when patients and providers have sought to avoid potential spread.  

According to the companies, Medically Home's technology enables providers to address conditions including routine infections and chronic disease exacerbation, emergency medicine, cancer care, acute level of COVID-19 care, and transfusions. 

During the pandemic, it also allowed family members to be at the patient's bedside, while preserving hospital resources.  

Medically Home's medical command center is staffed by clinicians and community-based care teams integrated with a patient's electronic health record. The center includes required protocols for high-acuity home care; integrated communication, monitoring and safety systems technology; rapid response logistics systems; and a software platform.   

Both Mayo and Kaiser say they are currently using Medically Home's care delivery model.  

"This partnership is a significant step in our commitment to providing the right care in the right setting for every patient as we continue to help lead the transformation of health care," said Greg Adams, chair and CEO of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc. and Hospitals, in a statement.   

"While the pandemic has put a spotlight on the limitations of brick-and-mortar health care delivery, this important expansion of Medically Home's resources will help fill a critical need going forward," Adams added.

THE LARGER TREND

This past month, Mayo Clinic announced the launch of a new platform to deliver AI-powered clinical decision support through remote patient monitoring tools.  

The health system has also highlighted some early successes with its existing Advanced Care at Home program.

Hospital at home initiatives have benefited from both public and private support.  

This past March, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services launched its Hospitals Without Walls program, which allowed for care provisions in locations outside hospitals. In November 2020, it expanded to a new Acute Hospital Care at Home initiative, giving eligible hospitals further regulatory flexibility.   

"With new areas across the country experiencing significant challenges to the capacity of their health care systems, our job is to make sure that CMS regulations are not standing in the way of patient care for COVID-19 and beyond," said then-CMS Administrator Seema Verma at the time.  

Meanwhile, health industry heavy-hitters launched an effort this March aimed at shifting the way policymakers think about the home as a site of clinical service.

We recently spoke with one healthcare expert about how health systems should be preparing now for the future of hospital at home. "Everyone has to be thinking about this," he said.  

ON THE RECORD  

"The work we have done to date with Mayo Clinic, Kaiser Permanente and our other customers validates the importance of rigorous, seamless, integrated implementation and orchestration of this high-acuity platform on behalf of patients and their families," said Rami Karjian, CEO of Medically Home.   

"This partnership with Mayo Clinic, Kaiser Permanente and others will catalyze, enable and accelerate our high-acuity model becoming the standard of care for patients everywhere," Karjian continued.

Kat Jercich is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Twitter: @kjercich
Email: kjercich@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.