Kaiser Permanente, Mayo Launch Coalition to Support Home-Based Telehealth, RPM

Several large health systems have formed a coalition to support strategies that use telehealth and remote patient monitoring to provide acute care for patients at home.

The Advanced Care at Home Coalition builds on both the surge in remote patient monitoring programs during the pandemic and the Acute Hospital at Home Program, launched in late 2020 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. That program, which now involves more than 100 hospitals and health systems across the country, offers CMS waivers for a home-based care management plan to treat patients who would otherwise require hospitalizations for a broad range of acute conditions, including asthma, congestive heart failure, pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Treatment plans combine RPM and telehealth with in-person care.

The coalition was launched by the Mayo Clinic, Medically Home and Kaiser Permanente, and includes Adventist Health, ChristianaCare, Geisinger Health, Integris, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Michigan Medicine (the University of Michigan), Novant Health, ProMedica, the Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group, UNC Health and UnityPoint Health.

“Offering acute-level, hospital-quality care at home allows physicians and care teams to treat a whole person to meet their individualized care goals, while also helping address some of the social determinants of health,” Stephen Parodi, MD, executive vice president of The Permanente Foundation, part of Kaiser Permanente, said in a press release issued this morning. “This coalition supports a policy foundation for this more equitable future of healthcare.”

The Mayo Clinic and Kaiser Permanente partnered with Medically Home, a Boston-based company, to launch their Hospital at Home program this past May. Parodi and Margaret Paulson, DO, FACP, Medical Director of Advanced Care at Home and Home Health at the Mayo Clinic Health System, will talk about their programs and the coalition during an opening keynote fireside discussion to kick off Xtelligent Healthcare Media’s Connected Health Virtual Conference next Tuesday.

“Patients expect and deserve high-quality care and excellent outcomes in a convenient and comfortable setting, even when faced with complex medical challenges,” Mayo Clinic President and CEO Gianrico Farrugia, MD, said in a press release issued last May. “Our partnership with Kaiser Permanente and Medically Home will create the next generation of patient-centric, compassionate healthcare that seamlessly integrates advanced technology with clinical expertise. By bringing best-in-class clinicians and services to patients in their homes, we’ll be able to provide more people with individualized care that’s tailored to meet their specific needs.”

According to today’s press release, the Advanced Care at Home Coalition “will seek to create stability and expand access to this unique care model by addressing regulatory and legislative barriers, and to empower more patients across the country to receive high-quality acute and restorative care in their homes. The coalition will also strive to share best practices and provide thought leadership, supporting additional health systems across the country to participate in this new model of care delivery.”

The strategy basically involves moving certain patients from the hospital to their homes, and putting together a care plan that includes daily visits by care providers, remote patient monitoring of vital signs and other health data, and a telehealth platform to enhance communication. Advocates expect that the strategy will improve health outcomes, in part because patients tend to recover faster and better when in their own homes, lessen the strain on overcrowded hospitals and reduce costs associated with inpatient care.