Pilot project in Ont. designed to let patients heal at home lowers cost per patient significantly

The director of hospitals, emergency departments and alternate level of care for an LHIN in southwestern Ontario praises the Intensive Hospital to Home pilot project. Data shows half of eligible participants in the program were able to convalesce at home after hospital treatment, decreasing the per day cost of care to the health authority from $730 per patient to between $166 and $194. For the past two years, patients could only be in the program for 30 days. Funding of $1 million extended the window to 60 days and is beneficial, he says, for patients who no longer needed acute care but would have ended up staying in the hospital anyway. The authority is lobbying the Ontario government for more money to make the program permanent.