Maximize the 90 Day Acute Hospital Care at Home Extension
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Feb 27, 2025

Maximize the 90 Day Acute Hospital Care at Home Extension

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Maximize the 90 Day Acute Hospital Care at Home Extension

The 90-day extension of the Acute Hospital Care at Home (AHCAH) waiver provides hospitals with continued flexibility from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), allowing them to deliver certain types of acute care in patients’ homes rather than requiring admission to a traditional inpatient facility.

Originally introduced during the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), the AHCAH waiver was designed to help hospitals manage patient surges more effectively, utilizing telehealth and home-based care solutions. Under the waiver, hospitals can treat eligible patients at home with appropriate medical oversight, including remote monitoring and necessary therapeutic interventions, thereby extending hospital-level care beyond the traditional setting.

Key Implications of the 90-Day Extension for Health Systems

Continued Flexibility for Hospitals

The 90-day extension provides health systems with additional time to integrate home-based care into their operational strategies. This enables hospitals to treat patients who require acute care but do not need full hospitalization, optimizing the use of hospital resources.

The extension also offers hospitals greater flexibility in managing patient volume and capacity, helping to prevent strain on physical facilities—particularly in the face of potential patient surges.

Financial Impact

Reimbursement and funding: The waiver enables hospitals to receive reimbursement for acute care provided at home, as though the care were delivered in an inpatient setting. These reimbursement rates may be subject to adjustment or extension as policies evolve.

Hospitals can continue billing Medicare for home-based acute care services, which represents a critical revenue stream. If this flexibility is extended or made permanent beyond the 90-day period, it could offer significant financial relief, particularly for hospitals in rural or underserved areas facing resource constraints.

Operational Adjustments

Health systems may need to invest in infrastructure like telehealth systems, remote patient monitoring technologies, and home health nurse services to comply with the AHCAH requirements.

For hospitals not already equipped for home-based acute care, the extension provides an opportunity to ramp up resources or partner with home health solution providers.

Patient-Centered Care

The extension allows hospitals to continue to offer patient-centered care by providing more comfortable care options for patients who are appropriate for home care, reducing the risk of hospital-acquired infections and improving patient satisfaction.

Quality of Care and Regulatory Compliance

Hospitals will need to continue ensuring that the care provided at home meets the necessary clinical standards. Compliance with all applicable regulations and quality of care measures will be crucial to maintain eligibility for reimbursement.

Monitoring and quality assurance processes will remain key, as patients receiving care at home will still require oversight by healthcare providers to ensure their safety and well-being.

Strategic Planning

Health systems might use the 90-day extension to evaluate the feasibility of incorporating hospital-at-home models into their long-term strategies. For some systems, the waiver could help them test these models on a larger scale to understand the financial, operational, and clinical implications before committing to more permanent changes.