The Movement: Home care Trends

Jasmiry Bennett

During the first COVID-19 wave, many healthcare organizations restructured patient care accommodating for emergent and urgent care while disaster planning. In addition, the limited knowledge of this novel virus deterred patients from receiving the needed care therefore, elective cases were postponed. People in our communities were scared to enter a hospital for fear of contracting COVID-19. Communication efforts via social media platforms and the local news in sending public messages about the prioritization of patient safety measures at healthcare organizations slowly changed the misconceptions and perceptions of our community members. Now, our patients feel hospitals are the safest place to receive healthcare. Transitions to telemedicine was widely accepted, as the federal government relaxed laws allowing for remote care to take place while not affecting reimbursement. Since, we have learned, nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities, and long-term care facilities were identified as high-risk areas for patients to contract the virus. Post discharge from an acute care healthcare institution caused much stress to families as there was concern about sending their loved to a facility. Most people, if offered the opportunity were choosing recovery at home. More than 25% of COVID-19 related deaths were attributed to facilities where groups of people lived and, in some states, deaths were calculated to be an upward of 50%³. Shifting costs from healthcare facilities to the community has been a goal for several years. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services (2020)⁴, Healthy People 2030 developed objectives gearing healthcare services towards community-based approach. According to Becker's Hospital Review (2021)¹, the healthcare pendulum was swinging towards care in the community, however COVID-19 fast tracked most of these objectives whereby using technological advances to communicate and connect with people. According to a consumer survey conducted by Quadrant strategies, 72% of respondents preferred to receive care at home after a major medical event, 69% preferred to receive regular check-ins at home, 63% preferred to receive care at home, and 51% preferred to stay home secondary to the pandemic (Carecentrix, 2021)². Healthcare expenditure in the United States (US) is high and access to healthcare is a challenge for many Americans. It is less costly to provide care at home when the home environment is deemed safe for patient recovery, than to transfer care to facilities. As the healthcare landscape continues to evolve, healthcare professionals should prepare to provide home care for a population that would prefer receiving care at home and payors are willing to reimburse the costs in an effort to potentially decrease hospitalization and readmissions.

Jasmiry Bennett

Editor-in-Chief