NJ Health System Launches Hospital-at-Home Program

Hackensack Meridian Health has established a hospital-at-home program at JFK University Medical Center in Edison, New Jersey.

The program will enable the hospital to provide acute care for Medicare patients in their own homes. Patients with diagnoses that result in frequent and expensive readmissions to hospitals, such as uncomplicated congestive heart failure, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cellulitis, will be able to receive care through the program.

Initially, JFK University Medical Center will admit a few hospital-at-home patients a week and provide them with two nursing visits every day; medications delivered to the home, including infusions; and rehabilitation visits. The program includes remote patient monitoring to track oxygen levels, blood pressure, heart rate, weight, and temperature.