Acute Hospital Care at Home Program

The Acute Hospital Care at Home program is an expansion of the CMS Hospital Without Walls initiative launched in March 2020 as a part of a comprehensive effort to increase hospital capacity, maximize resources, and combat COVID-19 to keep Americans safe. This program creates additional flexibility that allows for certain health care services to be provided outside of a traditional hospital setting and within a patient’s home. 

There are several requirements that a hospital must meet in order to participate in the program. These include: 

- Having appropriate screening protocols in place before care at home begins to assess both medical and non-medical factors

- Having a physician or advanced practice provider evaluate each patient daily either in-person or remotely

- Having a registered nurse evaluate each patient once daily either in-person or remotely

- Having two in-person visits daily by either registered nurses or mobile integrated health paramedics based on the patient’s nursing plan and hospital policies

- Having the capability of immediate, on-demand remote audio connection with an Acute Hospital Care at Home team member who can immediately connect either an RN or MD to the patient

…and many more.