Background: A growing number of surgical infections can be treated safely and effectively with parenteral antimicrobial therapy in the patient's home. Our objective was to define the economic impact of a hospital-in-the-home unit (HITH) introduced into a surgical unit.
Methods: Patients admitted to the HITH must be assessed thoroughly for suitability, including clinical stability and social circumstances, and both patient and caregiver consent must be obtained. The HITH received all stable surgical patients with complicated infections and an expected long-term stay. A total of 150 patients were enrolled during a 12-month period. Patients were reviewed daily to monitor the progress of therapy and check for possible complications. Antibiotic selection was based on appropriate prescribing principles rather than dosing convenience. Innovative dosing regimens were included, such as once-daily aminoglycosides, continuous-infusion beta-lactams, once- or twice-daily cephalosporins, and oral fluoroquinolones in order to provide effective therapy for a wide range of infections that previously would have required in-hospital care. Economic efficiency for both the surgical and the HITH unit was assessed by examining Diagnosis-Related Group (DRG)-based clinical processes, profits and losses of each clinical process, and a quantitative model for performance evaluation and benchmarking (data envelopment analysis; DEA).
Results: The mean stay in the surgical unit was decreased (3.95 days) while increasing the case mix (1.42). At the same time, HITH patients had a mean stay of 8.69 days with a stable case mix of 1.61. The economic benefit of both units increased in the surgical unit because of a shorter stay and in the HITH secondary to greater impact of the case mix while maintaining the mean stay.
Conclusions: Appropriate use of HITH leads to greater patient and caregiver satisfaction, efficient in-hospital bed use, and financial efficiencies. Patients receiving intravenous antibiotics, wound care, parenteral nutrition, or transfusions do not always need to be in the hospital.