By Akorede Adekoya
Hospital at Home (HaH) is changing the healthcare system by delivering acute level hospital care right at the patients homes. Hospital at Home is an acute clinical service that brings hospital care to selected individuals in their homes. It substitutes for acute inpatient hospital care by providing staff, equipment, technologies, medication, and skills typically found in hospitals directly to patients within the walls of their home.
HaH programs have evolved into a demand, given the aging population, increased cost, and an urgent need for fresh ideas. The convergence of macro forces such as advancement in technology, data ubiquity and interoperability, enhanced roles and expectations of individual is also impacting and shaping the future of health, hence driving further transformation like the hospital at home. Also, the proliferation of digital health tools has fuelled patients’ desire, with about 60% of Canadians expressing interest in having access to websites or apps that help monitor certain aspects of their health and 51% in using remote monitoring devices.
In simple terms, let’s picture digital future of Hospital at Home together
It’s 2030 and Davis, a 40-year-old man has asthma. He presented at the emergency at an hospital in Langely. After the initial consult with the emergency physician, he was told he meets the inclusion criteria for Hospital at Home. Davis is excited as he loves the idea of getting high quality care at the comfort of his house. Dr Chanel, the hospital at home Physician provided an overview of what the hospital at home model is to Davis. He will be transferred home with an iPad and some remote patient monitoring devices/wearables. He will be monitored around the clock virtually from the hospital through his wearables. His oral medications will be delivered to his doorstep using a drone, and blood samples will be drawn in his living room. Every day, the nursing staff and if necessary, a doctor come will come to his home to administer the necessary treatment.
The Roles Digital Health Solutions Plays in Making Virtual Hospital at Home Possible
The advancement in digital health technologies provide new possibilities for caring for and treating patients in a hospital at home. For example, wearables facilitate the measurement of relevant key indicators, and these devices are worn on the body – like smart watches or smart patches and transmit health data continuously in real time. In addition, these devices can also notify the health team or trigger an emergency call in the event of any abnormal data readings. These wearables can also help clinicians with recommendations from data-driven information like sleep habits, heart rates and physical motions. A report from Signify Research has the remote patient monitoring market climbing to just under US$3 billion by 2026, driven by fiscal and political commitments from governments, implementation of reimbursement frameworks and larger structural shifts in healthcare delivery. Longer term, hospital at home initiatives are expected to be fuelled by the shift towards value-based care and population health models.
This advancement in digital health is also transforming the exchange of information. Virtual visit solutions enable contacts to be established regardless of location, and audio-visual medical consultations. Cloud-based systems also enable all parties involved to view the data relevant to them, and personal rights and data protection are guaranteed.
With the advancement in Artificial Intelligence, more capabilities are being included to speed up healthcare analysis. Hospital at home clinicians can combine historic patient
medical records and real-time health data to drive a sustainable hospital level treatment right in the patient home. Different artificial intelligence systems can help track patient development, predict health deteriorations, or recommend treatment plan changes depending on trends shown by patient records in HaH settings. Clinical data interpretation based on artificial intelligence helps to reduce the workload for medical professionals while improving the accuracy of provided treatment.
The digital future of Hospital at Home in Canada will likely change the healthcare scene, providing a sustainable, patient-centered alternative. And with the rapid advancements and innovation happening all over the world, the future might not be too far away.
Akorede Adekoya is a project leader, virtual health with Fraser Health. With a background in pharmacy and global health, he is passionate about using technology to improve the healthcare system for everyone, especially marginalized and underserved populations. His interests include leveraging digital health to create scalable and sustainable solutions to help populations with substance use disorder. When he is not working, he enjoys writing and reading fiction novels.