Mayo Clinic investment backs in-home technology for hospital-level care

Mayo Clinic and a California-based health system jointly are investing $100 million in technology to provide more hospital care in patient homes.

The Rochester-based clinic and Kaiser Permanente, which is a large health care and insurance provider, are making the investment to help Boston-based Medically Home expand efforts to give patients in-home access to complex medical care.

Mayo launched a pilot of the technology in Eau Claire, Wis., last year, and is expanding its use in Arizona. Sometimes described as "hospital-at-home," the technology got a big boost from the federal government last year as medical centers looked for ways to conserve hospital beds for COVID-19 patients.

"Our experience with Medically Home has been that we've been able to achieve the same quality, the same safety, the same outcomes — but very significantly higher patient and family satisfaction," said Dr. John Halamka, the president of Mayo Clinic Platform, during a news conference.

"We are forced as we enter a home to assess the whole patient, the whole family and social determinants of health," Halamka said. "You understand what are their support systems; how do we bring the whole family back to wellness."

Patients receive a technology kit for communicating from home with a nearby command center that's staffed by health care providers. There's also equipment for remote monitoring of vital signs and an emergency response system.

Community paramedics and nurses regularly visit patients in their homes as well. It's an option for certain patients with serious and complex conditions ranging from cancer to COVID-19.

"The market … can be divided into lower-acuity care at home, which represents from 5 to 10 percent of patients currently hospitalized, to this more serious and complex patient cohort, which represents about 30 percent of the hospitalizations," said Raphael Rakowski, the executive chairman of Medically Home. "So our goal, to scale and make this model available to as many patients around the country and, frankly, around the world, is to focus on the serious and complex patients."

In Eau Claire, Mayo has been providing services in either in-person or via virtual formats that include infusions, skilled nursing, imaging exams and rehabilitation. Discussions are ongoing, Halamka said, about when the technology might be used for patients in Minnesota.

Beyond financial support, Mayo will provide expertise to help Medically Home grow rapidly, Halamka said.

The company's technology is being used by other nonprofit health care groups including Adventist Health, a large group on the West Coast, and UNC Health in North Carolina. The pandemic has accelerated adoption, officials said, as regulations allowing nonhospital space to be used for patient care boosted telemedicine services such as in-home hospital care.