Medically Home, a hospital-at-home company backed by Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente and Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic, has started an in-home emergency care program.
ED in Home is available now at participating health systems in Massachusetts and has so far served about 5,000 patients, a company spokesperson told Becker's. The project is expected to expand to other states later this year.
"Hospital emergency departments are the right place for patients with life or limb threats and those in need of immediate procedures or interventions," said Evan Berg, MD, chief of emergency medicine for Medically Home, in a Jan. 10 company news release. "With our model, most other high acuity care can and should be delivered safely in the patient's home."
As part of the program, a triage nurse, via phone, screens out patients for trauma, stroke, acute coronary syndrome, and the need for immediate life-sustaining care. For patients stable enough to be seen at home, a paramedic or nurse visits within two hours, providing mobile imaging, lab work and medications if necessary and consulting with an emergency medicine physician by video.
Mayo and Kaiser were part of a $110 million funding round for Medically Home in January 2022 after becoming joint strategic investors the previous May.