The hospital-at-home movement continues to gain steam.
Boston Medical Center (BMC) on Wednesday announced the launch of its new hospital-at-home program. The initiative is aimed at providing high-quality medical care to patients in the comfort of their own homes.
“BMC Hospital at Home is anchored in BMC’s commitment to deliver transformative models of care that improve access and equity across the communities we serve,” Dr. Alastair Bell, president and CEO of Boston Medical Center Health System, said in a statement. “Providing hospital-level care in a patient’s home allows us to increase patient access to care options, expand hospital capacity and provide high-quality care to more of our community without additional strain on our resources.”
BMC traces its roots back to the merger of Boston City Hospital and Boston University Medical Center Hospital in 1996.
Today, it stands as the largest safety-net hospital and Level I trauma center in New England, offering a wide range of specialized medical services, including trauma care, pediatrics, cancer treatment, infectious diseases management and more. As a teaching hospital affiliated with Boston University School of Medicine, BMC also plays an important role in training the next generation of physicians, nurses and other health care professionals.
The organization’s announcement highlighting its new hospital-at-home program does not specify whether the program is part of the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) waiver program. That does appear to be the case, however, with Boston Medical Center approved as an Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver participant as of Feb. 2.
As of March 29, there were 321 hospitals across 133 systems in 37 States taking part in the CMS hospital-at-home waiver program.
BMC Hospital at Home is a physician-led, in-home, remote acute care unit that provides around-the-clock patient monitoring, daily physician e-visits, live clinician visits and on-demand access to a dedicated health team.
“The service will provide comprehensive, in-home and virtual care for eligible patients who are experiencing common health conditions that require hospitalization – pneumonia, dehydration and heart failure, among others – supported by trusted clinical experts and convenient, advanced technology,” the organization detailed in its announcement.
The program was launched in collaboration with Boston-based Medically Home.