Virginia Mason Franciscan Health Launches New At-Home Recovery Program in Collaboration with Contessa

VMFH Home Recovery Care at St. Joseph Medical Center will bring all essential elements of a hospital stay into the comfort of patients' homes

TACOMA, Wash. and NASHVILLE, Tenn., Feb. 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Virginia Mason Franciscan Health (VMFH) launched VMFH Home Recovery Care at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma in collaboration with Contessa, an Amedisys company. Home Recovery Care brings all the essential elements of a hospital into the comfort of patients' homes, offering a convenient and safe alternative to the traditional inpatient stay. The program will expand access to high-acuity care and increase crucial inpatient capacity while reducing the overall cost of care.

"As we launch VMFH Home Recovery Care, we look forward to defining a new standard for care delivery that improves patient outcomes, while lowering the overall cost of care," said Ketul J. Patel, CEO of Virginia Mason Franciscan Health. "This innovative care model allows us to offer our patients a more convenient way to receive care while increasing our inpatient capacity for patients with the highest acuity."

Contessa is a nationwide leader in delivering comprehensive care at home. This model, on average, reduces readmission rates by 44% and decreases the mean length of a hospital stay by 35% while delivering high patient satisfaction and improved outcomes.

"We are pleased to partner with Virginia Mason Franciscan Health to provide the region with greater access to high-quality care in the comfort of patients' homes," said Travis Messina, CEO of Contessa. "Contessa's comprehensive home-based care model supports VMFH's commitment to meeting the evolving needs of the communities they serve by giving their patients more choices for where to receive care."

Eligible patients at St. Joseph Medical Center can choose Home Recovery Care instead of a hospital stay. Patients are transported back to their homes to receive hospital-level care the same day, supported by staff and the medical equipment they need for their recovery. The service is ideal for patients with a variety of acute conditions who would otherwise be admitted to the hospital, such as COVID-19, RSV, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), congestive heart failure, and urinary tract infections.

Key components of Home Recovery Care include:

• A physician-led care plan.
• A combination of in-person visits, and 24/7 virtual care by a physician, an acute care nurse, and a recovery care coordinator through a computer tablet, provided at no additional cost.
• Seamless remote monitoring of vitals including blood pressure, pulse, heart rate, weight, as well as daily health assessments in adherence to the care plan.
• High-quality medical care at home, including IVs, wound care, and dressing changes.
• Assessments for patient success, including medication reconciliation, and identifying social determinants of health, such as food insecurity, that can be addressed to improve the patient's overall health and recovery.

The program is initially available only to Medicare fee-for service patients. Virginia Mason Franciscan Health is exploring opportunities to expand to additional locations and include patients with other health plans in the future.

About Virginia Mason Franciscan Health

Virginia Mason Franciscan Health is an integrated health system serving the Puget Sound region, offering access to some of the country's most prestigious experts and hospitals that are internationally known for superior quality. With a team of 18,000 team members, including nearly 5,000 employed physicians and affiliated providers, we unite the brightest health care minds in the region to provide world-class clinical excellence at 10 hospitals and nearly 300 sites of care throughout the Puget Sound area. We are proud to be the home of Bailey-Boushay House, the first skilled nursing and outpatient chronic care management program in the United States designed specifically to meet the needs of people with HIV/AIDS, and Benaroya Research Institute, which is internationally recognized for autoimmune disease research. We embrace our community's uniquely vibrant, active culture by providing holistic, personalized and patient-centered care. We are committed to caring for the most vulnerable in our communities, especially the poor and underserved, providing more than $300 million in community benefit – free, subsidized, and reduced cost health care and programs. Learn more at www.vmfh.org.

About Contessa:

Based in Nashville, Contessa is the leader and pioneer of Home Recovery Care, a risk-based model that combines all the essential elements of inpatient hospital care in the comfort of patients' homes. Founded in 2015, Contessa utilizes Care Convergence – a proprietary technology platform – to power the seamless delivery of Home Recovery Care that is safe, affordable and improves patient outcomes. Contessa's turnkey solution provides upfront savings to health plans, enables health systems to reinvent their care delivery model and helps physicians deliver a better experience for patients. For more information, visit contessahealth.com or follow us at @contessahealth.

About Amedisys:

Amedisys, Inc. is a leading healthcare at home Company delivering personalized home health, hospice, personal care and high-acuity care services. Amedisys is focused on delivering the care that is best for our patients, whether that is home-based personal care; inpatient hospital, palliative, and skilled nursing facility ("SNF") care in their homes; recovery and rehabilitation after an operation or injury; care focused on empowering them to manage a chronic disease; or hospice care at the end of life. More than 3,000 hospitals and 102,000 physicians nationwide have chosen Amedisys as a partner in post-acute care. Founded in 1982, headquartered in Baton Rouge, LA with an executive office in Nashville, TN, Amedisys is a publicly held company. With approximately 20,000 employees, in 532 care centers in 37 states and the District of Columbia, Amedisys is dedicated to delivering the highest quality of care to the doorsteps of more than 465,000 patients in need every year, performing more than 11.2 million visits annually. For more information about the Company, please visit: www.amedisys.com.

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SOURCE Virginia Mason Franciscan Health