Paramus, N.J.-based Valley Health System is building a hospital-at-home program to help overcome capacity challenges and care for patients where they are.
CMS granted the health system a waiver in March to provide acute hospital care at home out of The Valley Hospital, located in Paramus. Valley Health System plans to launch hospital at home in July.
“Delivering acute care at home is the future of healthcare, offering eligible patients the option to receive care for common inpatient conditions in the comfort of their home,” Toni Modak, BSN, RN, vice president of Valley Home Care, told Becker’s.
The health system has been following the hospital-at-home movement since 2020 and started seriously looking into the infrastructure about a year ago. “Our decision was really driven by our goal to enhance access to care,” Ms. Modak said.
Valley Health System decided to partner with hospital-at-home company Inbound Health on the clinical and technology aspects of the program.
Ms. Modak said the care model requires a “substantial” investment, from the technology — including building virtual capabilities into Valley Health’s EHR — to the staff required to set up and operate the program. The return will come from freeing up inpatient beds, as well as reduced readmissions, improved outcomes and enhanced patient satisfaction, she said.
So far, Valley Health has been performing testing and tabletop exercises to ensure the program is ready upon launch. “We won’t go live until we are assured that all of our infrastructure is built so we can deliver the same quality of care that we would within brick and mortar,” Ms. Modak said.
Developing the program has required teamwork across the organization. “Every department within the hospital has played a critical role in this development: contributing to key decision-making, taking ownership of various components, making sure there’s seamless integration,” Ms. Modak said. “It’s amazing how it touches every single department within the hospital.”
The health system plans to focus on some of the same diagnoses common to programs across the country: respiratory conditions, pneumonia, heart failure, COPD.
A major piece of advice from Ms. Modak on developing hospital at home: overcommunicate.
“You have to get everyone involved within the health system with effective communication strategies: explaining the model, establishing clear protocols to maintain our quality and safety, because it’s really stepping outside the conventional hospital environment,” she said. “There’s no such thing as overcommunicating with this program. It’s a huge initiative, and the more people you bring on board to communicate with, the better off you are.”
Ms. Modak has been pleased with all the intersystem collaboration on hospital at home. She has long been paying attention to what other health systems have been doing with the care model. And after Valley Health System was approved by CMS, other organizations reached out asking how the process went. She encourages other health systems to do the same.
“Everyone’s trying to help each other build a very solid infrastructure, because we do see this as the future of healthcare,” she said. “So it is really nice to see healthcare leaders across the board coming together to help each other.”
