Years into the pandemic’s almost overnight transition to virtual care, providers and health plans are now scrambling to build sustainable systems that can more permanently treat patients in their homes via telehealth or other means, a trend they say could cut costs and make health care more convenient for patients.
There’s widespread interest. Health systems are piloting their own “hospital at home” programs, some of which use biometric sensors to passively monitor patients before their conditions worsen, minimizing unnecessary in-person visits. Industry giants like UnitedHealth Group are poised to spend billions of dollars on home health providers; Amazon’s clinic chain Amazon Care threw its weight behind home health when it joined the Moving Health Home policy coalition last year.
And though the breakneck pace of digital health startup investments has slowed, young companies are still capitalizing on the home health movement by offering services like drug delivery and telehealth apps.
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