Kaiser Permanente, Mayo Clinic to Expand Home-Based Connected Health Program

Kaiser Permanente and the Mayo Clinic are planning to expand a relatively new care model that combines telehealth, mHealth and in-person visits to treat acute care patients in their own homes rather than the hospital.

The two health systems have announced a $100 million investment in Medically Home, a Boston-based company that has been working with, among others, the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Adventist Health and UNC Health on acute care at home programs The investment will help the Mayo Clinic and Kaiser Permanente scale up the connected health platform in their regions.

“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 that accompanied an hour-long virtual press briefing this week. “Our partnership with Kaiser Permanente and Medically Home will create the next generation of patient-centric, compassionate health care 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.”

Spurred on by the coronavirus pandemic, healthcare providers are looking to shift care services out of the hospital and into the home.  This includes care management for patients who would otherwise be in the ICU.

Recognizing this trend, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services launched the Acute Hospital Care at Home Program in late 2020, creating a unique pilot payment model to support hospitals who use a variety of connected health services to facilitate that care. Hundreds of health systems, including Brigham and Women’s in Boston, have signed on to that program, adding support to programs that have been around for a few years.

“If Home Hospital were a drug, every insurer would pay for it immediately,” David Levine, MD, MPH, MA, a physician and researcher at Brigham and Women’s who help develop its program in 2016, told mHealthIntelligence.com last year.

The Mayo Clinic launched its version of the program last summer at its sites in Florida and Eau Claire, WI. Kaiser Permanente also launched last year in northern California and Oregon, using one hospital in each region to support connected care outreach to patients.

“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,” Greg Adams, chair and CEO of the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals, said in the press release. “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.”

The basic model for the program uses a 24/7 command center at the health system to coordinate care for patients at home, integrated through the electronic health record. Home health visits are a critical part of the service, while other services are provided through remote patient monitoring with mHealth tools and communication and collaboration through telehealth platforms.

Aside from providing RPM services and on-demand and emergency care, the platform can also support specialty services (such as infusions), behavioral health services, medication management, lab and imaging and rehab care.

Advocates for the program say it boost outcomes because patients tend to recover more quickly and completely at home rather than in a hospital, while cutting down on expensive in-patient treatments that drive up costs.

John Halamka, MD, who leads the Mayo Clinic’s virtual care arm, said during the virtual press conference that more than 300 patients have been treated through their program. With that care, he said, they’ve seen fewer complications and readmissions, improved outcomes and a positive response from patients and their families.

“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,” he said in the press release. “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.”