Americans Want Home to Be at The Center of Their Health
Background: On December 2, Moving Health Home (MHH), a coalition of health care organizations advocating for improved access to home-based care, released a consumer survey sponsored by industry leaders BrightStar Care, Home Instead, Intermountain Healthcare, and Vituity. During the pandemic, holidays have looked different. People have been separated from their loved ones by distance and the walls of health care facilities. This has been alleviated, in part, by federal flexibilities such as the Hospitals Without Walls (HWW) and Acute Hospital Care at Home (AHCAH) waivers, that allowed hospitals to treat Medicare beneficiaries in their homes. However, these waivers are set to expire at the end of the public health emergency (PHE) unless Congress acts.
Survey Results: The new national survey, conducted by Morning Consult, speaks to the widespread support by adults for receiving care in their homes across the care continuum, including Hospital at Home.
- Americans Are Comfortable Receiving Care in the Home
- 70 percent of those surveyed are comfortable with care in the home citing that familiarity helps alleviate anxiety and improve communication. This is especially important for those from underserved and minority communities.
- Americans Are Confident in the Quality of Receiving Care in the Home
- 73 percent of adults are confident in the quality of receiving care in the home.
- 85 percent of caregivers are confident in the quality of receiving care in the home.
- 88 percent of adults were satisfied with the clinical care services they received in the home.
- Americans Prefer and Would Recommend Care in the Home
- 85 percent of people who have had experience with care in the home would recommend it to family and friends.
- Americans Support Expanded Care in the Home
- A bipartisan majority of consumers say it should be a priority for the federal government to increase access to clinical care in the home (73 percent Democrats, 61 percent Republicans).
Action: Congress should act now to temporarily extend the HWW and AHCAH flexibilities for two years after the PHE while working to develop a permanent Acute Care in the Home Program. View the MHH policy fact sheet here for more information on why Congress should act.
What They Are Saying
“This emerging data proves what we’re seeing with our patients receiving hospital-level care at home. Patients are consistently more comfortable and heal better at home – because they sleep better, tend to walk around more, can have family present, and be with their pets more—than if they were in the hospital. For certain diagnoses, hospital-level care at home programs can safely produce equal or better patient outcomes and better patient experience and satisfaction at a lower cost than similar care in the hospital.”
“This survey confirmed what we’ve known from our work at Home Instead work over the last three decades — people want to age in place and receive care at home. The hospital of the future is our living room and we need to create change to realize that vision.”
“I started BrightStar Care 20 years ago with the mission to provide a higher standard of nurse-led personal and skilled in-home care. This study validates the importance of home care, with majority of respondents reporting they would recommend to others. While there’s still more work to be done to make it affordable and accessible to all, we’re proud to partner with Moving Health Home to shape the future of home care.”
“The new benchmark in patient-centric care is delivering quality, compassionate care to patients by meeting them where they are. Vituity is proud to be part of the Moving Health Home coalition, joining other healthcare leaders to improve access to home-based care for patients nationwide.”
Press Release
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Full Analysis of Results
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Infographic
