ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas Health Resources is introducing Texas Health Care at Home, an innovative new model that brings acute-level care directly into a patient’s home. By expanding its virtual care offerings, Texas Health is meeting patients’ demands, responding to changing consumer preferences and offering increasingly personalized care.

The service is available for patients with diseases such as heart failure, COPD, asthma, pneumonia, cellulitis/soft tissue infections, complicated urinary tract infections, gastroenteritis/dehydration and COVID-19.

“Texas Health is embracing innovation and meeting consumers where and when they need us,” said Barclay Berdan, FACHE, CEO of Texas Health Resources. “Texas Health Care at Home is the latest example of how we are working to improve the care and well-being of all of our patients, on their terms. As advancements in technology transform the healthcare industry, we are evolving to care for North Texans today and in the future.”

Texas Health Care at Home is being launched as the health system leverages technology that delivers care to patients in a new yet familiar venue — their own home. Receiving healthcare services in the home is a growing option for patients across the spectrum of care. Texas Health Care at Home, focused on a specific subset of acutely ill patients, allows participants to be in the comfort of a familiar setting, surrounded by loved ones, while receiving constant monitoring from a medical command center supplemented by in-person healthcare services.

The home setting addresses the social and emotional components of healing and helps reduce readmissions into emergency departments. Nationwide, patients who have received treatment in similar home delivery formats tout the advantages of comfort, convenience and companionship as benefits that help promote healing.

Continuous patient monitoring working in unison with hands-on care is the hallmark of Texas Health Care at Home. In this new format, the patient’s home becomes part of a virtual hub that provides care 24/7 from a medical command center. Texas Health Care at Home will equip homes with the necessary technology needed to connect patients with healthcare professionals while also supplying needed in-person services.

This new option is being launched as Texas Health integrates advanced technology amid changing consumer demands and in response to COVID-19’s impact on the healthcare industry. It builds on Texas Health’s technical infrastructure, allowing the system to position itself for future medical industry trends.

“We are partnering with consumers to provide a lifetime of health and well-being, and that means thinking beyond traditional healthcare models,” said Kathi Cox, Ambulatory and Virtual Channel chief operating officer for Texas Health. “We are adapting to new models of care to support patients wherever they are.”

The Texas Health Care at Home command center, key to the model, is staffed by physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses and service coordinators. These healthcare professionals will visit with and assess the needs of patients virtually numerous times a day. Healthcare professionals will deliver hands-on treatments during in-person visits.

Texas Health Care at Home is available for patients diagnosed with diseases such as heart failure, COPD, asthma, pneumonia, cellulitis/soft tissue infections, complicated urinary tract infections, gastroenteritis/dehydration and COVID-19. In-home visits are based on patient needs that address certain focus areas — for example, administration of IV antibiotics or wound care.

The program, which will expand to more hospitals and eligible patients over time, launches with emergency department patients at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth and Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Southwest Fort Worth.

This type of healthcare delivery format, which was developed by Johns Hopkins University’s School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health, is gaining popularity across the nation. John Hopkins states that it has been found to reduce hospital readmissions while helping lower healthcare costs.