By leveraging an algorithm based on information from China and Italy, Boston-based Brigham and Women’s Hospital is selecting COVID-19 patients who can be sent home for the rest of their treatment, according to NBC News.
The "hospital at home" program sends COVID-19 patients home with devices that allow physicians to monitor oxygen levels and heart rates. Nurses and other clinicians will visit the patients' homes twice a day.
New York City-based Mount Sinai Health System has also expanded its intensive "hospital at home" program. To qualify, patients must live a short distance from the hospital.
"We’re trying to triple the number of beds in the New York area," Linda DeCherrie, MD, a professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, told NBC News. "Freeing up beds for other patients is really important."