Becker's Hospital Review

83 FINANCE CMO / CARE DELIVERY e health system owns all the services provided under its model, which streamlines operations and allows the organization to get a patient home from the ED within two hours. In 2020, UnityPoint Health lowered its 30-day ED readmission rate for patients in the Hospital at Home program from 27 percent to 4 percent, achieved a 98.9 percent patient satisfaction score and saw an estimated cost reduction of more than $6,000 per patient, according to data shared with Becker's. Other prominent systems are also jumping on the bandwagon. In June 2020, Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic and Salt Lake City- based Intermountain Healthcare both rolled out their own models to deliver hospital care at home. In November 2020, CMS launched its Acute Hospital Care at Home program, which allowed hospitals to receive Medicare re- imbursement for at-home care services provided to patients for more than 60 conditions. As of April 5, more than 100 healthcare organizations were approved to participate in this program. Is your health system ready to implement a Hospital at Home program? Before adopting a home-based care model, health systems must en- sure they have the necessary resources, roles, organizational culture and reimbursement models in place. Johns Hopkins outlines six questions health systems should ask be- fore implementing such a model: • Is your health system experiencing problems from a lack of hospital capacity? • Does your health system have established home healthcare de- livery capabilities? • Do you have physicians with the interest and ability to care for patients in the home environment? • Does your health system experience a large volume of Medi- care admissions for common problems such as communi- ty-acquired pneumonia, heart failure or chronic pulmonary disease? • Does your institution view itself as an innovator in developing and implementing new models or systems of care? • Can your health system align payment, providers and the hos- pital for this model? n COVID-19 booster shot 'likely' needed within a year, Pfizer CEO says By Maia Anderson P fizer CEO Albert Bourla, PhD, said April 15 that people will likely need a third COVID-19 shot six to 12 months after they're fully vaccinated, The Hill reported. "A likely scenario is there will be likely a need for a third dose somewhere between six and 12 months, and then from there there would be an annual revaccination," Dr. Bourla said. He said variants will play a key role in determining whether annual shots will be needed. "It is extremely important to suppress the pool of people that can be susceptible to the virus because they are vaccinated with high-efficacy vaccines," he said, according to The Hill. Pfizer and its partner BioNTech have reported that their vaccine remained 91 percent effective six months after the second dose in a study. David Kessler, MD, the White House's chief science officer, told lawmakers April 15 that people "should expect" booster shots, but that officials "don't know everything at this moment." Peter Marks, MD, PhD, the FDA's director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said officials believe protec- tion from the vaccines will last at least nine months, The Hill reported. n Indiana hospital names first CMO By Kelly Gooch B rennan Fitzpatrick, MD, was chosen as the first CMO of The Women's Hospital in Newburgh, Ind., the hospital said April 13. Dr. Fitzpatrick is a veteran of The Women's Hospital, serving as medical director for perinatal medicine and ultra- sound since 2008. He will remain in this role, and in maternal fetal medicine patient care on a reduced basis, as he takes over the CMO duties, the hospital said. Dr. Fitzpatrick holds a medical degree from the University of Louisville (Ky.) and an MBA from Duke University in Durham, N.C. The Women's Hospital, which opened in 2001, is part of Evansville, Ind.-based Deaconess Health System. n

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