Launching a digital hospital

Being hospitalized away from home can be inconvenient and uncomfortable. OSF OnCall Digital Hospital offers an innovative alternative, providing hospital-level care at home for certain health conditions. This model ensures 24/7 access to nurses and doctors, enabling patients to receive expert care while remaining at home with their loved ones.

The origins of a digital hospital

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, OSF Innovation and OSF OnCall Digital Health rapidly set up a virtual hospital-at-home program to treat sick people while also reducing stress on hospital capacity and medical providers. The idea for this digital hospital concept grew out of a Trailblazer Challenge, a competition that helps employees – called Mission Partners – bring their health care ideas to life.

In just three months, OSF HealthCare was among a few health systems in the country successfully leveraging technology to care for more than 100 patients in their own homes across Illinois. As a result, OSF became one of three health care systems in the state granted a waiver to provide hospital-at-home care.

At that point, the team took a step back to design a fully-fledged digital hospital program. Jump Trading Simulation & Education Center created the education and simulation-based training to help clinicians prepare for the new model of care. After weeks of testing and training, Mission Partners were able to gain confidence through repetition of the new workflows and skills and get comfortable providing care in the home.

OSF OnCall Digital Hospital today 

OSF OnCall Digital Hospital successfully launched in the Peoria area in August 2022 and in Rockford in March 2024. Over 400 patients have received care at home through this program.

“As we bring patients home, we’re freeing up beds within the medical center for others to use, but additionally it’s great for patient experience. Patients love to be at home. They love to be with their pets, their beds, their favorite recliner and be able to control their own visitor hours,” said Melissa Meier, a manager of Digital Care at OSF OnCall.

Less than 7% of OSF OnCall Digital Hospital cases escalate to hospital care. Research shows patients in digital hospital programs recover faster and experience fewer falls and hospital-acquired infections. The care teams at OSF OnCall attribute that to the reduced stress that comes from the convenience and comfort of healing at home.

“I couldn’t ask for more polite, well-educated, concerned people to come into my house and make sure that I had what I needed to get well. It was a wonderful experience,” said Robert Thornton, the first OSF OnCall Digital Hospital patient in the Rockford area.

Criteria to be enrolled include a patient’s age, diagnosis, condition stability and having an insurer that covers hospital care at home. Medicare is among the payers that covers home-based acute care. Patients are also screened to make sure their home environment is safe and must live within 30 minutes of the hospital. Once enrolled, a tech kit, providing 24/7 instant connection, is set up by the care team. It includes things like:

• A tablet for video visits
• Bluetooth-enabled biometric equipment to monitor vital signs remotely
• Backup power and internet sources
• A personal emergency response button

Each patient’s personalized schedule outlines days and times for in-home and virtual visits from the care team. The team works hard to prioritize creating schedules that are convenient for the patient’s daily activities.

“We talked about pets. We talked about families, what they’d done before they were doing digital hospital. And in a way, when I was released from the (digital) hospital and knew that none of them would be coming again, I kind of missed them. I was getting better, and I was glad to feel better. But I was also very glad for their presence in our home helping me get better,” says Colleen Callahan, an OFS OnCall Digital Hospital patient from the Peoria area.

OSF OnCall Digital Hospital is redefining the future of health care by bringing the hospital experience directly to patients’ homes. By offering personalized care in a familiar environment, OSF is ensuring that patients not only heal but do so with comfort and convenience. This innovative approach is just one way OSF OnCall makes it easy for patients to get the care they need, when and where they need it.

Last Updated: September 5, 2024