The Connected Health Collaborative Community (CHcc) has introduced its first open-source resources aimed at advancing hospital-at-home (HaH) programmes.

Co-hosted by the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe) and the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), with UMass Chan Medical School's Program in Digital Medicine as the founding Impact Sponsor, the CHcc project was first announced in December last year.

HaH is a model that not only improves patient outcomes but also enhances the efficiency of healthcare systems by reducing costs and increasing access to acute care outside of conventional hospital environments.

Patients benefit from hospital-level care at home through quicker recovery times and reduced complications.

Hospitals can alleviate the strain on healthcare services by freeing up beds through HaH programmes.

DiMe chief delivery officer Benjamin Vandendriessche said: " Hospital-at-home is not just a cost-saving measure, it's a sustainable model that protects patient care, supports frontline staff, and ensures communities continue to receive the care they need, even in a time of economic and policy uncertainty."

However, the long-term sustainability of HaH is at risk due to uncertainties in policy and payment frameworks.

To mitigate these challenges, CHcc has featured free tools designed to transition HaH from a temporary policy measure to a sustainable care model.

These resources include a patient journey map, which offers a view of the patient experience, highlighting clinical services, workflows, and technologies.

Additionally, there are technical and operational considerations that offer insights for managing the infrastructure necessary to scale HaH programmes securely.

Further resources assist in programme evaluation and outline reimbursement pathways, aiding users in selecting key performance indicators, demonstrating return on investment, and exploring sustainable reimbursement options, including value-based care models.

The resources also identify five areas of successful implementation, backed by case studies to help overcome barriers.

HaH is part of a wider initiative to deliver connected care to patients wherever required.