How Can Integrating Mental Healthcare Improve the Hospital at Home Care Model

Hospital at Home (HAH) is a concept that has been available for many years but was not widely used until recently. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic — when nearly every hospital was at maximum capacity, short-staffed, and running out of supplies — was instrumental in showing the value of the Hospital at Home care model.

Imagine if those hospitals had more beds, staff, and supplies available for ICU patients, car accidents, cancer treatments, heart attacks, bypasses, gunshot wounds, and elective surgeries such as knee replacements. Most of these emergent and urgent treatments may have been rerouted to other facilities or scheduled into the future to allow for bed and staffing shortages due to the pandemic.