The Opportunity
Hospital-based care may not always be best matched to the unique needs of senior patients. We’re researching how new, more effective ways of delivering care could safely replace, when appropriate, hospital-based care with home-based alternatives that are more patient-centered, and lower in cost.
Our Goals
We’re working with a diverse group of healthcare leaders on ways to improve care delivery for seniors, enabling them to safely be cared for at home, rather than be admitted to the hospital. We are expanding efforts to advance home and community-based acute care alternatives, especially within the context of risk-bearing provider and delivery systems, all of whom have embraced the imperative of shifting from a volume to value-based payment model. Taken together, we are committed to continue advancing innovative, person-centered, scalable and sustainable models to address the acute care needs for seniors in the ED, home, and community, ultimately tackling the pressing need to directly address the cost of healthcare.
Our Projects
Research
Mobile Health Paramedic
The ED has evolved to become a significant portal to high-cost hospitalizations, with over 82% of unscheduled hospital admissions originating in the ED. Geisinger’s Mobile Health Paramedic program represents a new approach to unplanned acute care for seniors in that medical care and monitoring is provided in patients’ homes. West Health, in collaboration with Geisinger, is studying this new approach for the potential to show improved patient outcomes and reduced medical costs associated with ED visits, hospitalizations, and EMS transfers.
Research
Acute Care at Home Research Study
We’re working with the University of California, San Diego’s Department of Emergency Medicine to develop and implement innovative practice improvements to improve patient care in the emergency department (ED) and across the continuum of care. Our research study is focusing on the implementation of acute care at home program from the ED as an alternative to inpatient admission for a specific cohort of patients.
Research
Emergency Care for Older Adults in the COVID-19 Era and Beyond: Proactive, Safe and Close to Home
Today, emergency room physicians see too many patients who have delayed treatment for heart attacks, strokes, and other serious conditions because of COVID-19 fears. In some cases, the results are needlessly catastrophic. Decisions to activate emergency care for life-threatening episodes appear to be dominated by perceptions that our nation’s emergency care infrastructure is either overwhelmed or unable to safely manage a call for help.
Research Collaborators
Geisinger Health System
The institute is collaborating with Geisinger Health System to study treatment at home options that would provide healthcare in a patient’s home as an alternative to hospitalization.
Institute for Healthcare Improvement
We’re collaborating with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and leveraging successful care models in the home and community to meet the unplanned acute care needs of seniors.
Mount Sinai Health System
The Mount Sinai Health System is an integrated health care system providing exceptional medical care to our local and global communities.
UC San Diego Health
UC San Diego Health is committed to creating a healthier world – one life at a time – through new science, new medicine and new cures.
Publications & Resources
Home and Community-Based Acute Care News
June 16, 2022
Home based Acute Care at Home: Getting Started Guide
June 26, 2020
Healthcare IT News: The successes – and pitfalls – of using telehealth for home-based primary care
October 1, 2019
The San Diego Union-Tribune: County adopts regional plan to bulk up services for seniors
August 14, 2019
AAFP News: Video Visits Tested in Homebound Geriatric Patients
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