Bloomington, Minn.-based HealthPartners is testing a new clinical step between nurse triage and the emergency department through its home-based medicine rapid response program. This initiative combines virtual and in-person care to reach patients at home on the same day their symptoms worsen.
Launched in March, the program has handled 235 rapid responses to date. According to HealthPartners, 89% of these patients were treated at home, avoiding emergency department visits or hospital admissions. The program primarily serves two patient classes: home-care patients with new or worsening symptoms and recently discharged patients who receive coordinated follow-up at home to help prevent readmissions.
HealthPartners developed the program to address a gap identified by leadership between post-acute services and emergency care. “I think the ability to get patients what they need distinctly is really the gap,” said HealthPartners’ Chief Medical Officer, Mark Sannes, MD. “While we have a lot of terrific post-acute services to manage chronic conditions, they are not always positioned to respond quickly when someone has an acute decompensation, or is heading for one.”
The rapid response workflow begins with the system’s nurse line, which can escalate patients to a virtualist for real-time evaluation. If necessary, clinicians can be dispatched to the home on the same day.
“Historically, patients had to go to the ER because we didn’t have the mechanisms in place to address these urgent issues,” Dr. Sannes explained. “If not handled by nurse line or primary care support, more than half of these patients would likely be admitted to the hospital.”
The virtualist network, initially developed to support primary care with medication management, has expanded to respond to acute needs. “It has evolved into a really effective tool to address acute patient needs — those who otherwise would have gone to a nursing care facility or emergency center,” Dr. Sannes added. By creating this space between traditional care settings, the team has been able to provide a smoother experience for patients.
Leaders say the program also impacts system demand. With emergency departments managing high volumes and inpatient beds constrained, reducing avoidable ED visits helps alleviate some of the pressure.
“Anything we can do to reduce the number of people coming into the emergency department helps with bed management,” Dr. Sannes said. “It reduces demand and relieves stress on an already overburdened system.”
The program is part of a broader effort to support medically complex patients at home. For older adults with multiple conditions, Dr. Sannes noted that “if they do show up in an urgent care or emergency center setting, the likelihood of them being admitted to the hospital is at least 50%.”
The work is ongoing. Dr. Sannes emphasized that the program is part of a larger redesign of how HealthPartners responds when patients’ symptoms worsen.
“To me, this program is just one more piece of the puzzle,” he said. “We’re working on a lot of these pieces simultaneously.”
