Thirty health systems have signed on to a letter to congressional leaders urging them to pass a five-year extension for the hospital-at-home program.
The CMS waiver for acute hospital care at home is set to expire March 31 without congressional action. A bill including the extension has been proposed as part of a new government spending package.
"Americans want home to be the center of their health," the Moving Health Home coalition wrote Feb. 3 to party leaders from the House and Senate. "Another extension of the waiver effectively builds the bridge from demonstration to a more permanent model by giving more certainty to those hospitals currently on the sidelines waiting for regulatory clarity."
The signatories said hospital-at-home care boasts the "rare combination of lower spending, shorter lengths of stay, high patient and caregiver satisfaction, and high quality," deploying "innovative technology and a workforce eager to treat patients where they live."
The health systems that signed the letter were:
Allina Health (Minneapolis)
Baylor Scott & White Health (Dallas)
Beth Israel Lahey Health (Cambridge, Mass.)
Care New England (Providence, R.I.)
ChristianaCare (Wilmington, Del.)
Geisinger (Danville, Pa.)
Indiana University Health (Indianapolis)
Intermountain Health (Salt Lake City)
Lifepoint Health (Brentwood, Tenn.)
Marshfield (Wis.) Clinic Health System
Mass General Brigham (Somerville, Mass.)
Michigan Medicine (Ann Arbor)
Mount Sinai Health System (New York City)
Nicklaus Children's Health System (Miami)
Novant Health (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
Orlando (Fla.) Health
Prisma Health (Greenville, S.C.)
Roper St. Francis Healthcare (Charleston, S.C.)
Sanford Health (Sioux Falls, S.D.)
St. Bernards Healthcare (Jonesboro, Ark.)
Stanford Health Care (Palo Alto, Calif.)
SUNY Upstate University Hospital (Syracuse, N.Y.)
Tampa (Fla.) General Hospital
Texas Health Resources (Arlington)
UMass Memorial Health (Worcester, Mass.)
University of Chicago Medicine
Vanderbilt University Medical Center (Nashville, Tenn.)
VCU Health (Richmond, Va.)
WellSpan Health (York, Pa.)
Yale New Haven Health (New Haven, Conn.)