Inside Mount Sinai’s Hospital-at-Home Program

Since early pilot tests of the hospital-at-home model in the United States more than 20 years ago, the promise of treating patients where they live instead of hospitalizing them has tantalized health care providers.

These programs, which care for patients with acute illnesses such as pneumonia, cellulitis, and exacerbations of congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), are among the most studied innovations in health care. That research has shown varying but clearly positive impacts on mortality, clinical outcomes, readmission rates, and cost. A 2012 meta-analysis of 61 randomized, controlled trials, for instance, found that the hospital-at-home patients had a 19% lower six-month mortality rate compared to hospitalized patients. Another review found the rate reduced...