Another COVID-19 Effect: Hospital-At-Home Care Is Starting To Pick Up

Eighty-year-old Susan Sarchet has been admitted to the hospital for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease more times than she can remember. The last couple of her COPD hospitalizations — once in November 2019 and most recently in October — were radically different.

Instead of being admitted to a traditional hospital, the Denver resident stayed right in her own home.

“Hospital at home” is gaining traction as COVID-19 hospitalizations rise. The idea is to allow those who might normally be admitted to a traditional hospital to instead receive the same care at home. More recently, that’s included some people who have severe side effects from COVID-19 but don’t need more advanced intensive care.

Sarchet says she got to know her doctors and nurses better at home with the same level of care. Sarchet was on the verge of a hospital visit last November for COPD complications when her Medicaid managed-care program told her about its hospital-at-home pilot program. She jumped at the chance.

It wasn’t long before a whole medical team showed up with two cases of equipment and gave her a battery of tests, including a lung x-ray.

“All of a sudden they were [saying], ‘She needs IV medication,’” Sarchet recalled of that first day. “They improvised, by moving a lamp into my bedroom and hanging the IV from there.”