MADISON, Wis. — The opportunity to recuperate at home is now an option for certain UW Health Hospital patients, through its new Hospital at Home program.
Frank Flynn, who has ulcerative colitis, was one of the first people to receive treatment through Hospital at Home, which launched in July.
A recent flare-up of the disease had him in the hospital.
“The main thing they were doing was giving me meds in the morning, and in the early evening that kept me through the night,” he said.
Luckily, he didn’t have to stay hospitalized for long. Doctors identified him as an ideal candidate for Hospital at Home.
“I really didn't necessarily need to be in a bed, in a confined area,” Flynn said.
A team of people came to set up medical equipment in his living room, so he can get his treatments and be monitored from the comfort of home.
“The nurse comes and checks my vitals and looks at my IV, then the doctor comes anywhere between 8:30 and 9 a.m.,” Flynn said.
Some may assume this kind of care comes at a much higher cost, but leaders with UW Health say that’s not the case. It ends up being less costly, because it’s more tailored to each patient, and requires less overhead.
Mandy McGowan, UW Health’s Director of Home-Based Care Programs, said it also frees up more hospital beds for patients who need them most.
“Patients who need truly acute care in a high level academic medical center like UW Health, we want to make sure that we can have the beds available for those patients,” she said. “And so, if we can shift patients who have the right fit, to care at home, it's tremendous, mostly for the patient.”
It’s not for everyone, though. If someone has a serious infection, worsening condition, or lives more than 30 minutes from a UW Health hospital, they cannot be treated at home.
McGowan said so far, results have been positive.
“What we’ve seen so far in our program is that patients get to spend a little more time with nurses and with doctors. They get to spend time learning about their diagnosis, learning about their medications,” she said. “And that care team that is in the home is able to see exactly how that patient lives their life.”
Flynn said it’s been life changing for him.
“It’s a miracle,” he said. “I’m not one that sits around a whole lot, so it’s been a godsend. I didn’t know about it, but I’m sure glad they felt that I was an ideal candidate.”
UW Health hopes to expand the program to improve the quality of life for more people. It plans to treat 300 patients through Hospital at Home by 2024.