The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a report on the agency’s study of the Acute Hospital Care at Home (AHCAH) initiative, which allows certain Medicare-certified hospitals to treat patients with inpatient-level care at home.
The study evaluates several aspects of the AHCAH initiative, including:
- Criteria participating hospitals used to determine which individuals would qualify to receive services under AHCAH.
- Demographic information on beneficiaries treated under the initiative.
- Clinical conditions treated and diagnosis-related groups associated with discharges from the inpatient setting versus those under AHCAH.
- Quality of patient care for those patients treated in the brick-and-mortar inpatient setting relative to patients with similar conditions and characteristics treated under AHCAH.
- Beneficiary and caregiver experience with AHCAH.
- Medicare spending and utilization for patients who received care in the inpatient setting and through AHCAH.
- Quantity, mix, and intensity of services furnished through brick-and-mortar inpatient care relative to those served under the AHCAH initiative.
