Post-Hospitalization Home Monitoring Programs During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Survey Results from the Hospital Medicine Re-engineering Network (HOMERuN)

Abstract

Background: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, hospitals and healthcare systems launched innovative responses to emerging needs. The creation and use of programs to remotely follow patient clinical status and recovery after COVID-19 hospitalization has not been thoroughly described.

Objective: To characterize deployment of remote post-hospital discharge monitoring programs during the COVID-19 pandemic METHODS: Electronic surveys were administered to leaders of 83 US academic hospitals in the Hospital Medicine Re-engineering Network (HOMERuN). An initial survey was completed in March 2021 with follow-up survey completed in July 2022.

Results: There were 35 responses to the initial survey (42%) and 15 responses to the follow-up survey (43%). Twenty-two (63%) sites reported a post-discharge monitoring program, 16 of which were newly developed for COVID-19. Physiologic monitoring devices such as pulse oximeters were often provided. Communication with medical teams was often via telephone, with moderate use of apps or electronic medical record integration. Programs launched most commonly between January and June 2020. Only three programs were still active at the time of follow-up survey.

Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate rapid, ad hoc development of post-hospital discharge monitoring programs during the COVID-19 pandemic but with little standardization or evaluation. Additional study could identify the benefits of these programs, instruct their potential application to other disease processes, and inform further development as part of emergency preparedness for upcoming crises.

Keywords: COVID-19; post-hospitalization; remote monitoring.