Headline
Hospital at home services show similar or better outcomes when compared with traditional inpatient care for Medicaid enrollees.
Background
Most research on hospital at home programs has focused on Medicare enrollees, and there is a need for more research on the impacts of these programs on Medicaid enrollees. The study compared patients receiving hospital at home services between 2014 and 2017 with a control group receiving inpatient care and stratified the results by socioeconomic and Medicaid status.
Findings
There were limited statistically significant differences in hospital readmission and emergency department (ED) revisit outcomes between the hospital at home group and control group. However, the rate of 30-day ED revisits not leading to hospitalization was significantly lower for Medicaid enrollees receiving hospital at home services.
Policy/Program Takeaways
Based on this relatively small study, the authors hypothesized that hospital at home is not only feasible for Medicaid enrollees, but also that Medicaid enrollees may experience greater benefit from this model as providers can better address health-related social needs.