Blog
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the challenges of providing adequate resources to patients who need inpatient hospital admission. To meet these challenges, health systems and health plans are turning to alternative approaches that deliver high-quality care outside the four walls of the hospital, while at the same time ensuring it is safe and affordable. One solution at the forefront of this objective is hospital care at home. This care modality has evolved to meet the increasing demand for accessible acute care, by bringing hospital-level care to the home. Simply put, hospital care at home offers medical services in the home…
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At home, we are our whole selves. At a hospital, we might barely be half. To provide the most comprehensive and high-quality care that treats the whole person we must focus on elements of care that are usually not visible from within hospital walls. The most important way Contessa addresses these social determinants of health is the setting of care—the home. The home environment expands providers’ ability to interact with patients and better understand their health behaviors. It may seem obvious that providing care in the home gives providers a better window into their patients’ lives. But what might be…
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There was a time when the only option for additional care after a hospital stay was to be transferred to a rehab or skilled nursing facility (or SNF). Contessa’s Rehabilitation Care at Home model changes that by offering a safe and effective alternative to the traditional skilled nursing facility stay. With this program, patients can return home and receive the same high-quality rehabilitation care they would receive in a facility. Our care teams are designed and equipped to restore patients’ health while coordinating all the services, doctors, and other specialists that they need for up to 60 days. Patients who…
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When thinking about the role of nurses, we often default to thinking about what happens within the hospital. With new modalities of care in new environments, however, today’s nursing jobs can take many different forms. At Contessa, we recognize that many nurses are seeking an alternative to hospital-based roles. Contessa’s nurses enjoy an experience that’s unique in three key areas: Physical environment People, knowledge, and training Patient interaction and care plans Physical Environment The most obvious difference between types of nursing jobs is where the patient care takes place. The site of care delivery changes the way care is delivered.…
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At Contessa, we strive to improve the healthcare process for patients, providers and payers. At the core of this concept is our managed care strategy, which is Contessa’s unique ability to partner with Medicare Advantage (MA) plans to provide home-based clinical services through risk-based arrangements. Our high-touch models rely on a triad of telehealth, in-home clinical visits and other remote patient-monitoring services that enable patients to have better outcomes at lower costs. All of that makes partnering with payers who base their contracts on value – like most MA plans – a no-brainer for us. Our hospital care at home…
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Over the last several decades, a combination of factors has left America’s small towns with fewer hospitals, clinics and doctors. All of these have harmed the patient experience, with long journeys to receive care becoming an unfortunate hallmark of small-town life. Through a combination of dedicated health systems, willing payers and up-to-date regulation, however, we can revitalize rural healthcare. And the main mechanism for doing so is through home hospital care models, like Contessa’s.
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While remote monitoring outside of the hospital is common, our teams gain in-depth knowledge of a patient and their health during a 30-day episode, all while in their home. Contess’s monitoring phase gives us the ability to intervene more quickly when needed and more accurately identify longitudinal patient needs.
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The world needs nurses more than ever. However, these essential providers are facing difficult conditions for delivering care and, subsequently, severe burnout, both of which are driving many away from the field. Having fewer nurses creates a cycle that places even more demands on the nurses still in hospitals, who are often asked to care for up to 20 patients per shift in the emergency department or other fast-paced specialties. Good nurses know that time with their patients is key to the healing process, but time is also something they have less and less of. There aren’t many immediate solutions…
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It’s no secret: partnering with Contessa can transform already-prominent hospitals and health-systems into highly desired destinations of true patient-centered care. Our organization works with partners who share a dedication to offering the right care for patients at the right time in the best place suited for their needs: the home. The truth is, though, none of this happens overnight. From the first day after a partnership is formed, our teams work collaboratively to bring operational, clinical, and change management expertise to help clinical teams smoothly deliver hospital care at home. Our model is a more effective and more efficient process…
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When the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) introduced its Hospitals Without Walls program in March 2020, health systems could finally provide acute care services beyond their walls, in locations like patient homes, and be properly reimbursed for it. The pandemic created a clear need and demand for these services, and the program became an undisputed win, albeit a temporary one, for providers seeking to offer alternative sites of care.
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