Mass General Brigham and MedStar Health have joined a growing list of health systems working to move cancer care into the home.
Mass General Brigham and MedStar Health are offering in-home services to some cancer patients to help alleviate overcrowding in hospital emergency rooms, free up beds and reduce costs, the health systems said in separate news releases. Home-based cancer treatment is gaining momentum as more Americans are being diagnosed with the disease. However, reimbursement for some home-based cancer treatment remains a challenge.
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Boston-based Mass General Brigham began offering some home-based care last month to cancer patients through its hospital-at-home program, the company said Monday in a news release. Eligible oncology patients can receive oral cancer medications where they live while being treated for pneumonia, infections or other complications from cancer treatment.
Mass General Brigham has provided in-home oncology care to 18 patients so far, a health system spokesperson said.
Mass General Brigham operates one of the largest hospital-at-home programs in the country and said in the release it previously admitted only a small number of cancer patients to the program — mostly those with medical conditions unrelated to cancer.
A growing number of health systems, including Rochester, Minnesota-based Mayo Clinic, New York-based Mount Sinai and University of Utah's Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City are leveraging hospital-at-home programs and telehealth to provide some care to oncology patients where they live as the number of Americans diagnosed with cancer eclipsed 2 million last year.
Columbia, Maryland-based MedStar Health also joined the list. The health system said in a news release Tuesday it is collaborating with Reimagine Care on a pilot to extend in-home support services to about 200 cancer patients at its Franklin Square Cancer Center at the Loch Raven Campus in Baltimore.
Nashville, Tennessee-based Reimagine Care offers a virtual platform that answers cancer patients' questions about their symptoms. A virtual assistant can refer them to providers or deploy emergency medical technicians to their home through vendors such as DispatchHealth.
Under the agreement, MedStar pays Reimagine Care a flat fee per patient for the service, Reimagine Care CEO Dan Nardi said.
Columbia, Maryland-based MedStar said in the release the system hopes to improve quality performance and lower the total cost of care by reducing emergency department visits and hospitalizations among those undergoing cancer treatment.
MedStar has more than 300 locations across Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia, including 10 hospitals and 20 cancer centers.
If the pilot succeeds, Reimagine Care could extend the service to other MedStar locations. A successful pilot could also help the company ink partnerships with other health systems across the East Coast, Nardi said. Reimagine Care has similar collaborations with health systems in Texas, Florida, Colorado, California and Indiana.
Although home-based cancer care is gaining traction, health insurers still won’t cover certain cancer services where patients live, such as injectable medications, chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
Mayo Clinic began delivering home-based chemotherapy and immunotherapy treatments to about 60 oncology patients within 75 miles of its Jacksonville, Florida, two years ago as part of a study. Mayo Clinic and pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb are bearing the costs of the treatments the patients in the study are receiving, the study’s director said.
Nardi said Reimagine Care is also interested in providing in-home chemotherapy and immunotherapy — once health insurers cover the cost.
