Hospital giant launches at-home COVID care program that includes radiology services

New York City hospital giant Northwell Health has launched a new at-home care offering for coronavirus patients that includes portable radiology services.

The COVID-19 Ambulatory Resource Support program also offers a host of other services in cardiology, neurology and primary care. Leaders with the 23-hospital, 14,200-physician system said they wanted to try something new amid concerns of patients putting off care.

“What we saw in the COVID surge was that 80 to 90 percent of people who were sick with the virus never went to a hospital,” Thomas McGinn, MD, Northwell’s senior VP, deputy physician-in-chief, and co-creator of CARES said in a statement. “That included COVID patients who really required a higher level of care but were too scared to go.”

Radiology is involved in the new at-home offering in several ways, according to a spokeswoman. They’re sending mobile x-ray machines into the home to obtain chest x-rays, for instance, and, if necessary, referring consumers to outpatient facilities for CT imaging or a lower-extremity ultrasound.

“In those cases, we let the facility know the COVID status of the patient so they can take all the appropriate precautions,” Director of Corporate Communications Lisa Davis told Radiology Business. “The patient is met in the parking lot by team members in PPE, and they're masked and taken directly to the designated machines.”

Imaging leaders are also exploring whether to bring US scanners into the home, but there are no plans to do so at this time, Davis added. She estimated that they’ve already reached a few hundred patients, but not all have required radiology services.

Northwell is also deploying what it calls Coronavirus Related Outpatient Work Navigators to help steer patients toward the lowest-risk level of care, according to the announcement. Those who are seriously ill—suffering from shortness of breath or fever—can receive hospital-level treatments in their home, such as blood draws, IV placement or x-rays.

“During the surge, many New York hospitals were on the verge of being completely overwhelmed, but the irony is that with the right planning, much of what COVID-19 patients need can be done at home,” said pulmonologist Gita Lisker, MD, who developed the navigator program.

Northwell operates 17 imaging centers across the New York City area and back in May reported massive declines in radiology volume during the early days of the pandemic.

Others have also tried at-home imaging to reach patients at home during the pandemic, including La Jolla Vein Care in San Diego.

Marty Stempniak

Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic. 

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