Hospital at home
Hospital Operations
Definition. Hospital at home is a model in which patients who would otherwise be admitted receive acute, hospital-level care in their own homes.
Explanation
Care is delivered by multidisciplinary teams through home visits, remote monitoring and rapid access to diagnostics. Programmes either avoid admission altogether or allow early discharge from hospital.
Trials and reviews report similar or lower mortality, fewer readmissions in some groups, higher patient satisfaction and lower costs compared with inpatient care (Levine et al., 2020; Shepperd et al., 2016). Success depends on careful patient selection, clear escalation routes and support for family carers.
Related concepts
Telehealth Patient flow Long-term care
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References
Levine, D. M., Ouchi, K., Blanchfield, B., Saenz, A., Burke, K., Paz, M., Diamond, K., Pu, C. T., & Schnipper, J. L. (2020). Hospital-level care at home for acutely ill adults: A randomized controlled trial. Annals of Internal Medicine, 172(2), 77–85.
Shepperd, S., Iliffe, S., Doll, H. A., Clarke, M. J., Kalra, L., Wilson, A. D., & Gonçalves-Bradley, D. C. (2016). Admission avoidance hospital at home. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (9), CD007491.
Cite this entry: Kurutkan, M. N. (2026). Hospital at home. In The Health Topics glossary. https://healthtopic.org/glossary/hospital-at-home/
Articles that discuss this concept
3 articles on The Health Topics use this concept. The list updates as new articles are published.