At-home health care startup DispatchHealth has inked a new deal with AdventHealth to bring the former’s technology into Florida and Kansas homes.
Announced Tuesday, the deal builds upon an existing Tampa, Florida-based collaboration between the startup and the faith-based health system. It will see new deployments of the service across Florida’s Daytona Beach, Ocala and Orlando as well as the Kansas City metro area.
Patients in these markets will be able to use their phone or DispatchHealth’s app or website to request in-home acute medical care for viral infections, COPD exacerbations, congestive heart failure and other conditions ranging in severity, according to the announcement.
These treatments and other related tools are brought to the home shortly after a request is made, do not require a referral and will “soon” also be available to patients through AdventHealth’s existing mobile and web interfaces.
Lisa Musgrave, AdventHealth’s vice president of home care administration and post-acute services, said in the announcement that the program expansion is a chance to dismantle some of the barriers preventing AdventHealth's patients from receiving appropriate care.
RELATED: Mayo, Intermountain navigate 'Wild West' of starting Hospital at Home during COVID-19 pandemic
“We want to meet people where they are and bring personalized, high-acuity care to our patients’ living rooms,” Musgrave said in a statement. “We are excited to expand our home-based alternative care offerings to include this high-quality, high-value service and to integrate it with other innovations and investments AdventHealth is making in home health.”
Launched in 2013, DispatchHealth aims to provide a low-cost and convenient alternative to hospital stays.
The company outfits and coordinates emergency-care-trained medical teams with blood work labs, IV fluids and other traditional emergency room equipment for in-home delivery. Certain patients can also be set up with remote monitoring technology and 24/7 emergency call capabilities as a more comfortable approach to long-term care.
DispatchHealth says its in-home care model saves customers an average of $1,100 to $1,700 per acute care visit. It provided care to more than 170,000 patients across 2020 and, as of its hefty $200 million series D financing round in March, was active in 19 markets across 12 states.
RELATED: Humana to make $100M investment in home health startup Heal
“Many health care providers have a strong desire to deliver home-based care, and DispatchHealth can provide a proven platform to quickly extend care outside of the typical clinic and hospital setting,” Mark Prather, M.D., CEO and co-founder of DispatchHealth, said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to be AdventHealth’s partner of choice in offering patients effective, convenient and affordable care at home. The developing partnership builds on AdventHealth’s commitment to value-based care, and we look forward to bringing the service to even more markets.”
DispatchHealth’s high-profile partners aren’t limited to providers alone. Earlier this year, the company teamed up with Humana to provide in-home acute care to the insurance giant’s chronic condition members. The services came first to those living in Colorado and Washington, with plans to expand into Texas, Arizona and Nevada markets through the rest of the year.
The at-home acute care space received a shot in the arm over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially following a November announcement from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services outlining regulatory flexibilities to treat patients in their homes.
Notably, fellow home health tech company Medically Home was named the recipient of a $100 million strategic investment from the Mayo Clinic and Kaiser Permanente last week. Alongside the funds, both systems said they would be massively scaling up their existing hospital-at-home programs over the coming months.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story stated DispatchHealth was expanding to Kansas City, Missouri, rather than Kansas City, Kansas.