Mass General Brigham Healthcare at Home is expanding the home-based care continuum by growing its home hospital service to reach even more patients across the region in Massachusetts. Having been granted authorization from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to expand Home Hospital, Mass General Brigham plans to implement operations starting in mid-September for patients at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, Newton-Wellesley Hospital and Salem Hospital.
Mass General Brigham operates one of the largest home hospitals in the country. Home hospital provides acute care for patients at home who traditionally would need inpatient hospitalization. Mass General’s program was formed in 2022, combining the successful hospital at home efforts in operation at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital since 2016.
More advanced than traditional home health services, Mass General Brigham home hospital patients receive comprehensive treatment that involves daily in-home or virtual visits. These will be from a nurse practitioner, physician assistant or physician, in collaboration with broader care from a team of paramedics, nurses, therapists and home health aides. Services provided include intravenous fluids and medications, laboratory testing, oxygen, radiology studies, electrocardiograms and ultrasounds directly in the home. All of this is supported by a 24/7 continuous remote patient monitoring platform that transmits a patient’s vital sign readings to their clinicians, as well as a two-way text and video communication pathway that ensures continual access to a patient’s clinical team.
As the capacity crisis continues to put strain on healthcare providers and facility-based hospitals, home hospital offers a care delivery model that increases facility hospital bed availability to treat the sickest patients requiring more complex care. Growing the home hospital will continue to be a strategic priority for Mass General Brigham as it exemplifies the value of well-integrated and patient-focused care. Over the next five years, the system expects to shift 10% of inpatient care at Brigham and Women’s, Mass General Hospital, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Salem Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital to patients’ homes.
