The Risk of the Default Hospital Experience, and Why the Home Comes Next

Photo: Patty Brito

It has all happened to us one way or another. A beloved family member becomes suddenly ill, and the next thing we know is to either call 911 or book it to the nearest hospital facility. Once arrived, the physician treats your patient in hopes a miracle will come by.

For so long, that has been the gold standard of everyday healthcare. And for many years, it has always worked.

But as pressures in today’s society add up, emergency rooms are rapidly evolving and changing. Ongoing complexities are making it harder to enjoy the physical building. So many claim they wait hours just to be seen, while others are drowning in the costly hospital bill alone.

No longer is healthcare what it used to be. And because of this, health systems are grappling with the idea of something more. If so many patients are lacking a positive experience, what else could be done to eliminate this hurdle? Is there another alternative? What if patients sought care elsewhere?

These are the crucial questions many health professionals confront everyday.

For healthcare company Care2U, led by CEO Lon Hecht, the team is answering those questions directly by moving in a different direction. As a physician-led team based in New York, the company brings the care not to the hospital, but instead to the patient’s front door directly.

At the core, the organization’s philosophy is simple: to add a new dimension to care by delivering ER-level treatment at home.

A Transformation to the Home

When the care is moved from the traditional building and into the home, the benefits shift drastically. According to Hecht, who has well over decades of experience in the field, he has seen firsthand what hospital-at-home programs can do for both the employer and the patient.

Crucially, one of the most significant outcomes of pivoting to the home is the financial relief. Recent findings note that an ER visit in the U.S. can range from a few hundred dollars in the rarest minimal-severity cases to $21,000+ for major procedures, a data point that puts this reality into stark perspective.

When the bill costs an unimaginable amount of money, the family feels the strain the most. Apart from the actual medical treatment, they become forced to pay for the massive overhead costs like the infrastructure, the lighting, and the equipment. Couple that with an already pressing system, and no wonder ERs are facing the drastic downfalls.

Yet, when the standard moves to the home, costs are reduced by a fraction of the cost, and most insurance covers a major portion of this care. For Care2U, that’s not just an advantage. That’s a major stepping stone into improved healthcare costs.

New York Residents Pay the Price

In New York City specifically, where healthcare emergencies are particularly more prominent, the data also illustrates why at-home programs are necessary beyond simply the costs. Across much of the city’s health facilities, patients in an inpatient setting can wait well up to 27 total hours for a bed. At the same time, the same report claims that prosperous areas like Queens had patients waiting nearly 24 hours for care.

That means for someone experiencing a serious medical issue, nearly an entire day spent waiting for a hospital bed can feel endless. Families get to the hospital only to realize they won’t actually get the attention they need in a timely manner.

Additionally, part of the problem is that too many patients are being treated in hospitals when they could safely receive acute care at home. Rather than spending 20-plus hours in an emergency department waiting for a bed, that patient could potentially receive appropriate treatment in a familiar environment, while the hospital bed remains available for someone who needs it more.

The result could be a healthcare system that is not simply trying to move patients through hospitals faster, but is reducing the number of patients who need to enter the hospital in the first place.

The Hospital of the Future May Never Look the Same

Traditional healthcare systems have never really done any patient wrong, until recently when entire headlines have been claiming that waiting room delays are only degrading the process. If it takes over a day to even seek treatment, it should be telling that healthcare systems must rethink beyond what’s possible.

Care2U is serving as an example of what real, efficient healthcare can look like. By offering hospital-level care directly to the doorstep, it is becoming the key to patient care that not only becomes more affordable, but actually puts the patient and family first.

As the future of healthcare continues to take shape, maybe the hospital building is not so valued anymore. Of course, we all need an emergency room when the worst occurs, but evidence shows that the home might be just as meaningful.