Hospital-at-home is here to stay, according to Dave Kerwar, chief executive officer of Inbound Health, a new company that enables health systems and health plans to offer hospital-at-home and skilled nursing-at-home programs. While the pandemic helped to boost interest in hospital-at-home through the Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver, he firmly believes a permanent payment model for the program will be in the works by 2024 — when the waiver is set to expire. The absence of a permanent model is keeping about half of healthcare systems on the sidelines, he told McKnight’s Home Care in a Newsmakers podcast. Other impediments to the success of hospital-at-home are the workforce crisis and a lack of published data about experience and outcomes.
Inbound Health, which formally began last October after serving as a platform in Allina Health, has successfully proven that hospital-at-home and skilled nursing-at-home provide hospitals profitability, CEO Dave Kerwar said. The company has achieved over 5,000 episodes across 350 disease states. To get health systems and insurance plans on board requires demonstrating three areas: clinical quality, cost savings and top-line growth. Still, the program faces headwinds. Addressing the role of the family caregiver will be critical to the program's success, he said.
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