In this episode of GEMCast Dr. Christina Shenvi is joined by Dr. Mike Craig, Medical Director of Advanced Care at Home at UNC-Chapel Hill, to discuss the “Home Hospital” model of care. This innovative approach to care provides hospital-level treatment in patients’ homes, offering benefits such as reduced hospital-acquired complications, increased patient satisfaction, and enhanced caregiver and patient engagement. Mike discusses the operational requirements, challenges, and future hopes for expanding this model to more patient populations. Additionally, a caregiver joins the episode to share their personal experience with the home hospital model, highlighting its impact on patients and families.

• The “home hospital” model provides hospital-level care at home, reducing risks of hospital-acquired complications and increasing patient comfort and satisfaction.
• Older adults particularly those at risk of developing delirium, infections, and other hospital-acquired complications benefit the most from the home hospital model of care.
• The program has led to high satisfaction among both patients and caregivers, offering benefits like increased comfort, increased engagement with care, and reduced stress.
• Successful implementation requires a coordinated care team, effective communication, and a network of service providers to deliver necessary in-home care.
• The biggest challenge is shifting the mindset of providers, patients, and families to see home hospitals as a safe and effective alternative to traditional hospital care.
• The success of a program is going to be defined differently depending on the goals of the organization. Some key metrics include patient volumes, hospital days saved, patient satisfaction, patient outcomes ( infections, falls, etc.), and readmission and ED re-presentation rates..