Hackensack Meridian, Medically Home partner to expand hospital-at-home

Hackensack Meridian Health is going big on hospital-at-home care, with plans to start rolling out the service in its 18 hospitals during the next six months.

The health system is partnering with Boston-based Medically Home, which will provide a command center, technology and logistics support. Health system employees will be trained on hospital-at-home protocols, CEO Robert Garrett said Tuesday.

In April, Edison, New Jersey-based Hackensack Meridian began offering home-based acute care in patients’ homes, at Hackensack University Medical Center, Jersey Shore University Medical Center and JFK University Medical Center. Garrett said the program treats about 10 patients a day, a number that could increase to about 30 a day by the end of the year. The health system piloted an acute care at home program at its JFK University Medical Center in 2022.

Hospital-at-home lets health systems and hospitals offer acute-level care where patients live through in-person visits, telehealth and remote patient monitoring. Hackensack Meridian joins 136 health systems and 330 hospitals in 37 states that provide the services through a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services waiver that reimburses providers at the same rate for home-based care as in-facility care.

The waiver expires at the end of the year, and while there is bipartisan support in Congress to extend the waiver or make it permanent, the program’s future is uncertain. Still, Garrett expressed confidence that hospital-at-home care will continue.

“Is there some risk? Probably so. Sometimes you have to take that risk from a reimbursement perspective if you are going to really change healthcare. Our mission is to really be the leader of positive change to transform healthcare,” Garrett said.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly said the services would be rolled out within six months.