Prisma Health is bringing hospital-level care into patients' homes in the Midlands

Expanding program that allows patients to recover from a wide range of medical conditions in the comfort of their homes

COLUMBIA, S.C.—Prisma Health, the largest not-for-profit health organization in South Carolina, is now offering Home Recovery Care to patients cared for at Prisma Health Richland Hospital. Prisma Health partners with Nashville-based Contessa to operate the care model that helps patients to stay out of the hospital by bringing key elements of inpatient care directly into patients’ homes.

This marks the third location for Prisma Health Home Recovery Care. The program launched at Greenville Memorial Hospital in 2019 and expanded to Oconee Memorial Hospital last year. In the Upstate, the program has a 90% acceptance rate and an average patient satisfaction score of 98%. Prisma Health was one of the first health systems approved to provide Home Recovery Care to Medicare fee-for-service patients under the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Hospitals Without Walls waiver.

“Prisma Health has had great success with the program in the Upstate, and we are thrilled to provide this level of home care to more South Carolinians by adding it at Richland,” said Bo Cofield, Prisma Health Richland Hospital CEO. “The COVID-19 pandemic reinforced that going beyond the walls of the traditional hospital setting often gives our patients a better option for acute-level health care. Home Recovery Care was in place before the pandemic, but it is now gaining momentum. We believe this kind of service is essential to the care of our patients and is an important component of health care.”

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.

Home Recovery Care patients benefit from a 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 up to 30 days. Home Recovery Care allows Prisma 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.

“Our partners at Prisma Health are dedicated to inspiring patients to live their healthiest lives, which often means healing in a familiar environment, like the home,” said Travis Messina, Contessa CEO. “Together, we’ve built a successful program that many patients now request. It’s exciting to see this level of care provided to more folks in South Carolina.”

Much of the routine daily aspects found in acute-care settings are 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 is done by Prisma Health’s home-health registered nurses and by physician consultation utilizing telehealth.

Angela Orsky, vice president of Post-Acute Services at Prisma Health, added, “This program continues to demonstrate the ability of Prisma Health to lead in South Carolina with innovative care models that are high-quality, patient-centered, and a positive experience for our patients. Since we launched the program, we have served 300 patients and saved patients from being hospitalized for 1,000 additional inpatient days. Our patient likelihood to recommend scores are 100, and we are exceeding all our quality targets. Our home health clinicians in partnership with our hospitalists have exceled in the ability to care for complex patients safely in their homes. Serving five of the hospitals in the Upstate market, we are excited to extend services into Columbia with the launch at Richland. Our commitment is to continue our growth in acute care and skilled nursing services in the home setting, while evaluating additional opportunities to shift care to our patient homes.”

About Prisma Health

Prisma Health is a not-for-profit health company and the largest healthcare system in South Carolina. With nearly 30,000 team members, 18 acute care and specialty hospitals, 2,947 beds, approximately 300 outpatient sites, and nearly 5,000 employed and clinically integrated network physicians and providers, Prisma Health serves more than 1.2 million unique patients annually in its 21-county market area that covers 50% of South Carolina. Prisma Health’s goal is to improve the health of all South Carolinians by enhancing clinical quality, the patient experience and access to affordable care, as well as conducting clinical research and training the next generation of medical professionals. 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.