Hospitals are hazardous places for older adults. These hazards include delirium, malnutrition, falls, infections, and hospital associated disability (which about ⅓ of older adults get during a hospital stay). What if, for at least some older adults who need acute-level care, instead of treating them in the hospital, we treat them at home? That’s the focus of the hospital-at-home movement, and the subject we talk about in this week’s podcast.

We talk with Bruce Leff and Tacara Soones about the hospital-at-home movement, which has been shown to reduce costs, improve outcomes and improve the patient experience. In addition to discussing these outcomes, we also discuss:

The history of the hospital-at-home movement.
The practicalities of how it works including who are good candidates, where does it start (the ED?), what happens at home, do you need a caregiver, what happens if they need something like imaging?
How is it financed and what comes next?

If you are interested in learning more and meeting a community of folks interested in hospital-at-home, check out the hospital-at-home user group at hahusersgroup.org or some of these publications:

Hospital-at-Home: Bruce Leff and Tacara Soones

GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Podcast