This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Mandy McGowan, director of home-based care programs for UW Health Care Direct.
She discusses a new home-based hospital care program, which launched at UW Health earlier this summer. The program offers inpatient acute care for patients at home through a combination of telemedicine, home visits, physical therapy and other services.
“This type of care has actually been in existence since the mid-1990s, so this is not brand-new … What is different is since the public health emergency, Medicare at the federal level has really recognized this type of care and seen the value of this type of care being covered by Medicare and Medicaid,” she explained.
The federal government now offers a waiver that hospitals can apply for to provide this at-home inpatient care, McGowan said. UW Health had been developing its program for about two years before announcing it at the end of August.
Since the health system launched the program in July, patients have been saying “they are so happy to be home” while receiving care, according to McGowan.
“Patient experience is first and foremost number one,” she said. “In addition, there are better outcomes for care like this. So most importantly, patients are sleeping better when they’re at home, they’re on their own schedule, less risk for hospital-acquired infections, and greater mobility.”
Listen to the podcast below, sponsored by UW-Madison:
