Massachusetts General Hospital Brigham has operated a home hospital program for years, but now it is looking for partners to expand health care services in patients’ homes.
The Massachusetts health system and Best Buy Health announced a new partnership Wednesday. The top priority, the two organizations said, is to expand the Massachusetts General Hospital Brigham’s Family Hospital program. But they also said the partnership will help support the health system’s home health business, which works with patients recovering from injury or illness.
For Best Buy, the move marks another partnership with a well-known health system as the retailer expands its presence in the healthcare market. Both systems also see the partnership as a way to address growing staffing shortages in health care.
Heather O’Sullivan, president of Massachusetts General Hospital Home Healthcare, said the organization is working to build “the integrated health care system of the future.” The health system operates one of the largest family hospital programs in the country.
“As a recognized leader in home hospital services, we understand that consumers are increasingly choosing care in the comfort of their own home as an alternative to traditional facility-based delivery settings,” O’Sullivan said in a statement. .” “By leveraging vital technologies to provide us with world-class services, we are advancing system capabilities and, most importantly, improving clinical outcomes for the communities we serve today, while preparing for a broader range of care delivery in the future. “
Deborah Di Sanzo, president of Best Buy Health, said the partnership will also bring new ways to expand home care.
“More people than ever are willing to receive care at home, but we know that crossing that threshold isn’t as easy as it sounds,” DiSanzo said in a statement. “Best Buy Health and Cannabis Together, Provincial General Hospital and Brigham Hospital will create lasting solutions that support the rapid growth of the home care market and all those who play a critical role in delivering quality home care to patients who need and deserve it.”
Mass General Brigham and Best Buy Health said they will make a “significant investment” to help train health care workers for the Home Hospital program. They noted that clinicians working in home hospital programs reported higher job satisfaction. Healthcare leaders also tout these programs as a way to retain valuable employees who are burned out from working within hospitals.
The organizations said they will provide scholarships to those interested in pursuing nursing or other health care careers in a home setting.
Best Buy Health also has a partnership with Atrium Health, a division of Advocate Health, to improve the hospital experience. They said they are working to expand Atrium’s home hospital program and design solutions that can also be used in other health systems.
Rasu Shrestha, executive vice president and chief innovation and commercialization officer of Advocate Health, described the partnership with Best Buy Health during a presentation at the Vive conference in March. “We combine the best technology with the best empathy,” Shrestha said.
Best Buy Health also owns Current Health, a technology company that provides home hospitals, telemedicine and remote patient monitoring to health systems. Best Buy Health also recently expanded its partnership with Geisinger Health System to monitor chronic disease patients at home.
Researchers examined home hospital programs and found lower mortality rates, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Jama Network Open On November 3, researchers said that when examining data from 11,159 patients, only 38 patients (0.34% of patients) died unexpectedly.
The federal government eased restrictions on home hospital programs in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of Nov. 1, 127 health systems and 302 hospitals were providing acute care at home to patients in 37 states, according to federal data.
In this video, healthcare leaders discuss the evolution of home hospital programs with Chief Healthcare Executive®.