• Orlando Health announced this week that it will roll out its in-home hospital service next year 
• Certain conditions including heart failure, COPD, and pneumonia are able to be treated in patients’ homes, among others 
• The group received permission from the Agency for Health Care Administration to provice acute hospital-level care in residences 
• The service is the first of its kind in Central Florida 

Orlando Health, one of Florida’s largest healthcare providers, announced this week that it will begin offering at-home hospital care in 2023.

Orlando Health has received authority from the state Agency for Health Care Administration to administer acute hospital-level care in adult patients’ homes. This service will be provided to persons who meet specific clinical requirements.

According to the provider, conditions that can be treated in a home-based program include cellulitis, COPD, asthma, UTI, heart failure, COVID-19, pneumonia, and gastroenteritis.

“Hospital Care at Home introduces another option for Orlando Health patients to receive high-quality care in an environment that best facilitates their recovery,” said Jamal Hakim, MD, chief operating officer of Orlando Health. “Patients with certain acute conditions can be treated in the comfort of their home with the same level of care and monitoring they would receive within the walls of our hospitals.”

The Orlando Health program is the first in central Florida to be approved by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, also serving as an expansion of a federal initiative created during the COVID-19 pandemic to increase hospital capacity and maximize resources.

Progressing from telehealth, large-scale hospitals like Johns Hopkins and Mayo Clinic have helped make way for in-home hospital treatments to become a commonality.

Orlando Health will perform its proprietary in-home care using portable technology that connects patients to the Orlando Health Patient Care Hub for remote monitoring and virtual care by nurses and providers.

In some cases, daily in-person nursing check-ins can occur.

During the 2021 Fiscal Year, Orlando Health served more than 160,000 inpatients and 3.6 million outpatients, with counts anticipated to rise upon the utilization of the service.

Orlando Health also partnered with ThinkAndor this week to acquire health systems that can provide patients with virtual on-demand services like mental or behavioral health, virtual emergency department, and virtual nursing.