Blessing Health System issued the following announcement on Apr. 19.
Ariadne Labs, a joint center for health system innovation created by Harvard T. J. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Massachusetts, has selected Blessing Health System to participate in the Rural Home Hospital project, a three year research study that will help to build, launch and evaluate a nationwide home-based healthcare program to serve rural residents across the country.
The Rural Home Hospital project will provide hospital-level care in patients’ homes, instead of requiring inpatient hospitalization, with services that are more intense than those delivered through traditional home care programs. The goal of the project is to effectively treat acutely ill adults, while improving patient safety, quality, and satisfaction, and reducing cost.
A version of the project is in use in a number of large cities. The Rural Home Hospital project will help adapt the urban project to the needs of rural residents and the geography of rural areas, where patients are often much further from the nearest hospital than they are in large cities.
“It is a great honor to be selected to participate in this research,” said Mary Frances Barthel, MD, MHCM, SFHM, FACP, Chief Quality and Safety Officer, Blessing Health System. Dr. Barthel and Julie Shepard, MS, Administrative Coordinator, Community Health Innovation, wrote the successful application for Blessing’s participation in the three year research program.
“It was a highly competitive process, with hundreds of applications submitted from around the country,” Dr. Barthel continued. “Blessing demonstrated it had the capability and commitment to follow through with this vital, three year study.”
In addition to Blessing Health System, Appalachian Regional Healthcare, serving patients in eastern Kentucky and parts of West Virginia, was also selected for the Rural Home Hospital project.
“Blessing Health System is excited for the opportunity to participate in an initiative that offers the opportunity to provide quality healthcare in a convenient, home environment,” Shepard, added. “The Rural Home Hospital project will serve as a catalyst for our health system to be transformed into a rural health system of the future.”
The Rural Home Hospital project is a randomized, controlled trial. Of the Blessing patients who meet the guidelines over the three year period, half will be admitted to Blessing Hospital for care and the other half will receive hospital intensity healthcare in their home from Blessing. The outcomes of the two patient groups will be compared and contrasted to help build, launch and evaluate a nationwide Rural Home Hospital care system. Blessing’s goal is to have its project operational later this year.
Original source can be found here.
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