Mayo, Kaiser invest big in at-home health care
Mayo Clinic announced Thursday that it will partner with fellow health care giant Kaiser Permanente to invest in a medical startup at the forefront of at-home medicine — forecasting a shift in the medical field that could change how hospitals provide care to some patients.
Mayo and Kaiser will combine to pour roughly $100 million into Medically Home, a Boston-based medical startup that provides the technology and resources for patients to be cared for from the comfort of their homes. The funds, Mayo says, will be dedicated to expanding access while also encouraging other health care platforms to use the model.
“This is not a business transaction,” said Dr. John Halamka, president of the Mayo Clinic Platform. “This is about a profound change in the way care is delivered in this country, by bringing together extraordinary experts that are going to help Medically Home grow rapidly.”
The news comes as health care organizations nationwide embrace at-home care, particularly amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Telemedicine became a buzzword in 2020 as providers, including Mayo, attempted to quickly scale up their virtual capabilities, allowing things like routine checkups to be done virtually.
Medically Home’s model, they say, can go a step further, providing in-home care home for a range of conditions that typically require hospitalization — from routine infections and chronic disease exacerbation to emergency medicine and cancer care. In all, the company estimates that up to 30 percent of all hospitalized patients could benefit from the program.
"Rarely in the history of medicine do we see such a perfect alignment of policy, technology and cultural transformation converging to produce a new care paradigm like acute care at home," said Dr. Halamka.
The Medically Home model features a “medical command center,” staffed at all times by a team of physicians and nurses that can provide care virtually. Patients can communicate to their team through an app that works much like the buzzer on the side of a regular hospital bed — if the patient needs anything, the care team is immediately notified.
Mayo is already using the Medically Home model for patients in the Jacksonville and Eau Claire, Wis. areas through its “advanced care at home” model, delivering services like infusions and imaging. Dr. Halamka says the technology has allowed doctors to get a glimpse of the patient’s home life — what they’re eating, the space they live in, the people they’re around, among other things — and the added information has helped them create a better experience for the patient.
“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. Halamka. “We are forced, as we enter a home, to assess the whole patient, the whole family, and social determinants of health.”
Isaac Jahns is a Rochester native and a 2019 graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism. He reports on politics, business and music for Med City Beat.
Cover photo courtesy Mayo Clinic
