The Return Of House Calls? New Survey Reveals Health Leaders’ Outlook On Care At Home

When it comes to healthcare at home, what’s old may be new again. The old-time house call—once the primary way to see a doctor—has turned into technology-enabled, integrated clinical programs with the potential to save money and improve outcomes.

But, according to new research released today from Current Health, a Best Buy company that offers a care-at-home platform, the promise of care at home may face strong headwinds.

In a survey of more than 100 senior hospital and health system leaders, two-thirds said their organizations currently offer some type of care-at-home services. About the same proportion said they recognize that investing in technologies to enable care-at-home services is important or very important.

This latest iteration of care at home started with the addition of telehealth visits, propelled by the pandemic. But care-at-home programs are evolving way beyond the quick telehealth checkup or remote therapy visits. They now often include remote monitoring and in-home services for people with chronic conditions and those who are acutely ill.

Nearly two-thirds (64%) of leaders surveyed said their organizations offer remote specialty and primary care services. Additionally, 44% currently offer chronic care management to patients at home, while 34% offer post-acute care or early discharge, with another 32% reportedly evaluating offering such services in the future. Nearly one in five (17%) are already offering hospital-at-home services, a trend spurred by hospital-bed shortages caused by Covid-19 surges.

Clinical leaders see significant potential for these programs, according to the survey results. More than two-thirds (69%) said one of the top benefits of providing care at home is decreased readmissions. Another 60% and 59%, respectively, recognized decreased hospitalizations and reduced emergency department utilization as top benefits. Nearly as many (56%) cited the opportunity to enhance patient experience, an area other surveys have shown needs improvement. Smaller, but still significant, numbers of respondents identified additional benefits of care-at-home services, such as reducing operating costs (37%), improving quality of patient care (31%), and being able to serve more patients (31%).

“Our survey found that health system executives are enthusiastic about care at home and believe that it is often better for patients,” said Christopher McCann, CEO of Current Health, in a statement released by the company.

One-quarter of respondents said that care-at-home programs can address staff bandwidth constraints and 16% said these programs can address staff burnout, a critical issue affecting doctors and nurses across the healthcare system. Virtually all (95%) of leaders surveyed identified staffing shortages as an overall pain point for their organizations.

Though some respondents see care-at-home as a solution to overall labor shortages, many see staffing these programs as a key challenge. More than half (58%) of respondents said that finding the necessary workforce to staff care-at-home programs is challenging or very challenging.

Other potential obstacles to implementing these programs include getting patients to use and adhere to the program, implementing the remote technology needed to support patients at home, garnering provider buy-in, and setting up patients with the necessary tools and services.

When evaluating enabling technologies for care-at-home services, 74% of leaders said that ease of use for patients is important or very important. Other important features included technologies that integrate with existing clinical tools such as electronic health records, technical and logistical support, and minimizing the burden on already-stretched healthcare providers.

This survey sheds light on the broader trend of healthcare services moving out of facilities and into the home. According to McKinsey, as much as 25% of the total cost of care for Medicare beneficiaries—or up to $265 billion—could shift from traditional care facilities to the home by 2025. That figure represents a three- to fourfold increase over current levels of care provided in the home.

McKinsey identified several critical factors that could enable or hold back the growth of care-at-home services. While enabling technologies are increasingly available, as are companies to provide and support those technologies, success of care-at-home could come down to whether health insurers create financial incentives for providers to offer care at home and whether physicians and patients themselves embrace the return to care delivered at home.