In a move to help increase hospital bed capacity, CVS Health will provide in-home nursing to support the transition to eligible IV-therapy patients out of the hospital, officials announced Friday.
Coram, which is CVS Health's infusion care business, is working with hospitals including UCLA Health as well as other hospitals, to enhance its existing home infusion capacity and capabilities to help transition eligible IV-therapy patients to home-based care, they said.
Coram nurses will provide and coordinate a range of care, including daily visits and monitoring, medication administration, IV catheter line care, lab draws and educational support via telehealth.
“We’re able to create a clinically appropriate and safe in-home care setting, so hospitals can focus on treating those impacted by COVID-19,” said Sree Chaguturu, M.D., chief medical officer of CVS Caremark and CVS Specialty in a statement. “Amid this unprecedented public health challenge, home can be the safest place for patients recovering from a range of illnesses and can also help minimize their risk of contracting COVID-19.”
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Officials said Coram is working with UCLA Health to identify and begin transitioning stable patients to home-based nursing care. Patients with a range of conditions that may require infusion therapy, including hydration and nutritional support, anti-infectives or specialty medications for chronic condition management, will be considered.
Coram intends to scale the approach nationwide to other markets with high rates of COVID-19 cases, officials said.
To help consumers get easier access to medications, CVS Health also began offering 90-day maintenance medication prescriptions for insured and Medicare members, and CVS Caremark is working with all its prescription benefit management clients to waive early refill limits on 30-day prescription maintenance medications.
In response to current needs for front-line and distribution warehouse workers, CVS said it planned to hire 50,000 full-time, part-time and temporary roles across the country.