At any given time, 20 doctors and nurses stationed there can care virtually for up to 150 patients, including in Wisconsin and Arizona, near Mayo's other hospitals.īy comparison, the gleaming white hospital across the street is 20 times bigger and operates with eight times the health care staff - but can treat only double the number of patients.
The Mayo Clinic runs its hospital-at-home program from its virtual command center, right across from the brick-and-mortar hospital. "We've been married 37 years, and I think he sleeps better when I'm next to him, too," she says. Marcia Elder took care of her husband David during his at-home recuperation. In addition, a doctor calls in to check on Elder about twice a day. And at-home patients have 24-hour access to doctors on call with the touch of a button. Local paramedics and transportation are on call, in case a patient must be readmitted, for example. Maniaci says there are safeguards in place to protect patients. "We've had to trust God and the doctors." She said believes the hospital wouldn't have sent him home, if they weren't certain he was safe. She says no, pointing to words emblazoned on her blue shirt: "Look back and thank God and look forward and trust God."
I asked Marcia Elder if she worried about not having the doctor down the hall. He returned home a day later, but paramedics remained on standby in case of emergency. Some days into his recuperation, Elder developed a fever and sores in his throat - common signs of infection - and he landed back in the hospital 30 miles away for enhanced monitoring. "Hospital-at-home programs are billing in-patient care rates while shifting all of the care responsibilities to family members, the patients themselves, and the public 9-1-1 system," she says.Īt-home care is not without its risks. Mahon worries that the pursuit of savings will mean the American hospital industry generally will try to make at-home care standard for most patients. "We don't need the data to know what will happen in the home, because we know what's happening in the hospital," she says. "They're away from family, they're isolated, they're hungry, they're sleep deprived all night with all the vital sign checks, beeps and creeps," he says. He says hospitals are - ironically - terrible environments for healing, with their constant swirl of staff, noise, and risk of infection. The comfort of the familiar home environment, Maniaci says, is better for patients regardless of whether they live in a home with others, or alone - and even if they're acutely ill. Sitting next to him, his wife agreed: "We've been married 37 years, and I think he sleeps better when I'm next to him, too." "Honestly, there's a lot more restfulness, here at home," he said.
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He said he finds comfort in all the familiar things a hospital can't provide - his own TV remote, his favorite food, his wife's helping hand. A card table set up next to him keeps pills, an oxygen monitor and a tablet for video calls within reach. Behind him stood a pole to hang intravenous fluids.
Those pandemic-era waivers will remain in place until at least the end of 2024, although some experts anticipate policy changes allowing such programs to remain in place permanently.ĭenton rang the doorbell and walked into his home, as Elder, 60, greeted her from his favorite recliner, looking out onto a backyard patio. This allowed at-home hospital care programs to rapidly expand. That's largely because during the pandemic, the federal agency that runs Medicare and Medicaid relaxed normal rules requiring around-the-clock, on-site nurses for hospitals requesting the exception. Now, some 250 similar programs exist throughout the country. The Mayo Clinic was among the first hospitals in the country to experiment with sending acute patients home for remote care four years ago. Such a thing was unimaginable, just a few years ago. "They came to us and said, 'We have this hospital-at-home program' and I was like, 'What? I'd never even heard of it,'" Marcia Elder says.īy dinnertime that day, paramedics had set up a make-shift recovery room in their living space and they returned to convalesce at home. Since the pandemic, some hospitals have started offering to let patients with acute illness recuperate at-home, with 24-hour remote access to medical professionals and daily home visits.ĭavid and Marcia Elder packed their bags anticipating a month-long stay at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., when David went in for a bone-marrow transplant in late February, as part of his treatment for multiple myeloma, a blood cancer.Ī few hours after surgery, the couple were amazed when staff offered them the option of returning home that day.
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