CLEVELAND — Doctors making house calls used to be the norm. Nowadays, hospital visits are more common in healthcare, but COVID-19 inspired one Ohio hospital system to create a new “Hospital-at-Home” program to better treat patients with certain needs.

“The best decision I could have ever made," said Janora Johnson.

Johnson was the first Hospital-at-Home patient at University Hospitals.

“I felt like a celebrity," said Johnson.

Janora Johnson

Johnson loved having all of the comforts of home and the care of the hospital simultaneously.

Meal deliveries, twice daily in-person check-ins by paramedics and 24/7 virtual monitoring by healthcare professionals all made her feel safe during her recovery from COVID-19.

“The doctor came to my house," said Johnson. "I’m like ‘whoa,’ you know?”

Her vitals were checked, her blood was drawn and she even had an ultrasound of her lungs while at home.

Staff routinely sanitized all spaces and prescriptions were delivered to her door.

“I thought it was better care at home than it was in the hospital," she said.

Hospital-at-Home has cared for six patients, so far, since it started mid-April.

“Everything comes right to you," said Johnson.

Johnson participated in the program unexpectedly.

“I didn’t know I was going to be admitted," she said. "I didn’t know I was that sick either."

She said she went to a routine check-up appointment in April, but she didn’t feel well.

Testing showed something potentially serious was going on, so she was taken to the emergency room and eventually Johnson was told she needed to be admitted to the hospital.

That’s something she didn’t want to do.

“Well, I’m a full-figured lady and the bathrooms are not comfortable for me first of all, and it’s just the anxiety that I’m feeling," she explained.

The 55-year-old mother had spent time in the hospital before for other health issues.

While in the care of Hospital-at-Home, she did need to go into the physical hospital once, but overall things went well during her few days in the program.

“Usually, when I go to the hospital, I’m usually there for at least two weeks, you know, and I do think that this time that I was at home I think I got well a little faster," said Johnson.

Johnson said she is grateful Hospital-at-Home was offered to her and she encourages others to opt-in.

“Oh, I feel great," she said. "They put me all back together real quick.”

UH said the overall goal is to bring the power of University Hospitals to a patient’s home and offer the same level of care one would receive during a hospital stay. It’s a combination of telehealth and in-person care at home that’s ideal for COVID-19, COPD exacerbation, cellulitis and pneumonia patients that meet certain clinical and social criteria.

“Patients get to sleep in their own beds and they’re surrounded by all of their favorite things. So, there’s a lot of stressors associated with in-person hospitalization, especially unplanned care. So people worry about the safety of their homes. Did I lock the door? Did I leave the stove on? They worry about their mail, paying bills, package deliveries. They worry about their pets and their plants and so we’re able to mitigate some of those stressors," explained Jodi Arth, System Operations Manager of Clinical Delivery at University Hospitals.

Medicare and Medicaid cover this alternative treatment option and this also can be helpful for out-of-state loved ones. Hospital-at-Home can make it easier for them to be involved because they can join in on virtual check-ins to stay in the loop.

UH said there aren’t any other programs like this regionally and lessons learned from COVID-19 got the wheels turning to make Hospital-at-Home a reality. 

"The future of healthcare really is not within the walls of the hospital,” said Arth. “We want people aging in place and staying healthy and home and we want to be there for them every step of the way.”

Arth expects similar at-home care programs will keep growing in popularity as healthcare systems continue to rethink the best ways care for patients.