MedStar Health has partnered with DispatchHealth, a company that provides same-day at-home urgent care and other medical services, to allow patients recently discharged from a hospital stay to receive in-home follow-ups.
The patient’s hospital-based medical team coordinates the DispatchHealth teams for necessary follow-ups, usually within 72 hours of hospital or ER discharge. The goal is to avoid unnecessary readmission.
“The (DispatchHealth) team provides a wide range of services in the home, starting with the provider’s in-person evaluation of the patient. If needed, they can do labs, EKGs. They can give IV fluids and medications and do simple procedures,” said Dr. Ethan Booker, chief medical officer for Telehealth at MedStar Health.
Currently, the service is available for patients from MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and MedStar Washington Hospital Center throughout D.C. and parts of Prince George’s County, Maryland. MedStar Health said it is evaluating whether to expand the DispatchHealth partnership in the region, including Baltimore.
The partnership is focused care coordination in underserved areas, including D.C.’s Ward 7 and Ward 8.
“We think especially for patients with many medications or complex and serious illnesses, we want to ensure that patients can remain home and not have to return to the emergency room or hospital if they can safely resolve the issue,” Booker said.
While DispatchHealth operates its own in-home services independently, MedStar Health is currently an exclusive hospital partner in D.C.
MedStar Health’s health care providers connect patients to the DispatchHealth team based on clinical need, along with geographic and insurance criteria, usually before they have been discharged from inpatient or emergency department stays.
DispatchHealth teams use clearly marked vehicles, and include many of the same medical professionals found at hospitals, including medical technicians, nurse practitioners, physical assistants and emergency medicine doctors. Those teams can send information and follow-up requests to patients’ care teams at MedStar Health.
The DispatchHealth service is available from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days per week. It accepts most major insurance as well as Medicare Part B.
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