Prisma Health partners with Contessa to bring high-quality hospital-level care into patients’ homes

GREENVILLE, SC, and NASHVILLE, TN — Prisma Health, the largest not-for-profit health organization in South Carolina, will partner with Nashville-based Contessa on an innovative care model called Home Recovery Care that keeps patients out of the hospital by bringing key elements of inpatient care directly into patients’ own homes.

Prisma Health Greenville Memorial Hospital will be the first hospital in South Carolina to offer Home Recovery Care when it rolls out in early 2020. Prisma Health Oconee Memorial Hospital and Prisma Health Baptist Easley Hospital will be the next ones to offer it. The long-term goal is to offer it to eligible patients at any Prisma Health hospital in S.C.

Home Recovery Care provides hospital-level care to patients with acute, non-life-threatening medical conditions in the comfort of their own homes. Roughly 150 diagnoses are considered eligible for the service and range from congestive heart failure and pneumonia to dehydration, cellulitis and urinary tract infections. Patients must be evaluated by a Prisma Health doctor to determine if their conditions can be safely treated in the home instead of a standard hospital environment.

Benefits for patients participating in Home Recovery Care include reduction in stress, higher satisfaction due to being at home in a familiar environment, quicker recovery times, 24/7 access to a recovery care coordinator and continual monitoring for 30 days. Home Recovery Care allows health care systems to provide a better patient experience, reduce demand for inpatient hospital use, reduce the cost of care and advance efforts to provide the right care in the right place – which is increasingly outside the hospital.

“We partnered with national leader Contessa on this project because we want to go beyond the walls of the traditional hospital setting in order to give our patients a better option for acute-level health care,” said Angelo Sinopoli, MD, executive vice president and chief clinical officer at Prisma Health. “By redesigning the acute care model, we’ve found a way to bring all the essential elements of inpatient treatment for numerous conditions into the comfort and convenience of patients’ own homes. We believe this kind of out-of-the-hospital thinking is the future of health care.”

Much of the routine daily aspects found in acute-care settings will be the same in this home setting, including medication management, IV therapy and on-going monitoring of vital signs and blood samples. The in-home work will be done by Prisma Health’s home-health registered nurses and by physician consultation utilizing telehealth.

“Care models are changing, but what can never change is the need to provide our patients with high-quality care,” said Sinopoli.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Prisma Health in their efforts to give patients more options about how and where they prefer to receive care,” said Travis Messina, chief executive officer of Contessa. “In markets similar to Prisma Health across the country, we’ve already seen how introducing Home Recovery Care can lead to major improvements in patient satisfaction, outcomes and cost of care. We look forward to achieving those same results across South Carolina.”

Contessa facilitates hospital-level care for patients in the home by providing three key elements: the clinical model that enables safe delivery of hospital-level care in the home; the administrative capabilities to make care reimbursable by health plans; and Care Convergence, a proprietary technology platform that supports the clinical and administrative functions.

Eligible patients using Contessa’s Home Recovery Care model at other health systems have embraced this care option with over a 90 percent acceptance rate. The care model has continuous patient monitoring throughout the 30 days, which has resulted in a 44 percent reduction in readmission rates as compared to hospital care delivered in the traditional acute facility.

“For eligible patients, it will be a wonderful in-home option that can help reduce stress and anxieties for both patients and their families,” said Angela Orsky, vice president of post-acute services at Prisma Health. “We look forward to bringing this program to the Upstate – and eventually the entire state – as part of our purpose to achieve a better state of health for South Carolina.”

About Prisma Health
Prisma Health is a not-for-profit health company and South Carolina’s largest private employer. We are committed to excellence in providing patient care, conducting clinical research and teaching the next generation of physicians, nurses, dentists and other medical professionals. Our organization was formed in late 2017 when Greenville Health System and Palmetto Health joined together, officially becoming Prisma Health in January 2019. With nearly 32,000 team members, 18 hospitals and more than 300 physician practice sites, Prisma Health serves more than 1.2 million patients annually – about one quarter of the state’s population. Our goal is to improve the health of all South Carolinians by improving clinical quality, the patient experience and access to affordable care. Our groundbreaking programs in cardiovascular, diabetes, neuroscience, oncology and orthopedics care – as well as our two renowned Children’s Hospitals – attract patients from throughout the Southeast. Ultimately, we are dedicated to transforming the health care experience for our patients and their families, our team members and our guests by bringing our purpose to life: Inspire health. Serve with compassion. Be the difference. For more information, visit PrismaHealth.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.