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60 INNOVATION What's the future of hospital at home? 6 innovation execs weigh in By Katie Adams T he pandemic accelerated "hospi- tal-at-home" programs, which use remote monitoring and telehealth technologies to provide patients with hospi- tal-level care without the risks and costs as- sociated with hospital stays. Below, six health system innovation execu- tives shared what excites them most about hospital at home and how technology can shape the future of the care model. Editor's note: Responses have been edited light- ly for clarity and style. Eduardo Conrado. Executive Vice Presi- dent and Chief Strategy and Innovation Of- ficer at Ascension (St. Louis). What excites me the most about hospital at home is, in a word, innovation. Our teams are continually looking for ways to transform and improve access to and delivery of healthcare services across our communities, including home- based care. By applying a personalized and compassionate strategy to emerging technol- ogy, we're enabling seamless, easy access to care when and where it's needed. Today, the patient journey now includes mul- tiple avenues for receiving care at home, such as the ability to video chat with a clinician or be closely connected to clinical resources while recovering at home. Especially import- ant is how digital service innovations allow easier access to care for those who may not be within driving distance of a healthcare facility. We feel we're just scratching the surface on our capabilities to deliver care to all, and we're excited about future innovations and digital tools that will expand options for tele- health services within the communities we serve — especially for those most vulnerable among us. Daniel Durand, MD. Chief Innovation Of- ficer at LifeBridge Health (Baltimore). Vir- tually everyone is excited about the dawning of the age of the hospital at home. Physicians and patients see the opportunity for im- proved experience and outcomes by keeping patients who don't need the hospital out of those buildings, which are essential for many types of care but also carry risks and costs that are best avoided by those who don't need to be there. Payers and the government see tremendous value gains through the avoid- ance of the fixed costs of hospital-based care, much of which are driven by regulation and are thus unlikely to change regardless of the tech innovation landscape. Entrepreneurs and startups see that there is ample funding and a huge runway for growth as the population ages over the next three decades. What excites me the most about this move- ment is how rapidly innovations in remote monitoring and point-of-care diagnostics are expanding its potential. Advancements in sensor technology, miniaturization and machine learning are allowing for real-time remote monitoring of physiological param- eters that traditionally could only be mea- sured with costly hospital-based labs and equipment. I'm referencing breakthroughs like pocket ultrasound devices, portable MRI machines, non-invasive blood chemis- try assessment, multiparametric cardiopul- monary testing and even smart toilet seats that can help monitor congestive heart fail- ure patients. As these devices proliferate, machine learn- ing and AI will be increasingly necessary to monitor the resultant data feeds and detect which patients are at risk for decompensa- tion and who might need to be admitted to a traditional hospital setting. Companies like DispatchHealth, Biofourmis and others are actively deploying delivery models that inte- grate many of these components. e result will be an increasingly versatile model that will help keep large numbers of patients with frail health and/or chronic conditions safely "liber- ated" from the hospital and able to enjoy a far higher quality of life at a much lower cost. Amid digital health boom, customers question what's essential and what's a commodity By Jackie Drees T he COVID-19 pandemic has opened the door for an explosion of digital health activity, leaving customers with thousands of new service offerings to choose from for digital healthcare, The Wall Street Journal reported May 3. Corporate-benefits executives, who are the main custom- ers for digital health startups, have been overwhelmed by the sharp increase in offerings over the past year, specifi- cally startups pitching redundant and overpriced services. "We are inundated," said Meredith Touchstone, director of benefits at CarMax, according to the publication. "We already have these very big portfolios of vendors. And with all this new stuff coming into the market, there's no way to assess, literally thousands" of digital health services now available. In the first quarter of 2021, healthcare services venture capital hit a record of $7 billion — the highest quarterly total in the past decade, according to research firm PitchBook. Amid the large increase in digital health offerings, benefits executives are asking digital health companies to add ser- vices, merge complementary companies and make deals on pricing to differentiate themselves from all the other companies, the Journal reported. Employers are asking digital health providers to integrate with their insurers and increase the conditions their prod- ucts address as well as stop charging monthly fees for employees and instead just charge when workers use the services, according to the report. n