Home Recovery Care Expands to Minocqua, Weston

Marshfield Clinic Health System expanded its home recovery care services to eligible Marshfield Medical Center-Minocqua and Marshfield Medical Center-Weston’s patients, so they receive all essential elements of inpatient treatment in the comfort of their homes. 
This care model makes sense for many reasons, but particularly for a rural health system where people live across a large service area.

“Instead of being in a hospital, which for some of our patients might be two hours away, they can receive needed care at home,” said Deidra Schlough, home recovery care lead recovery care coordinator. “This is a benefit for quality of life for our patients and families, especially during the pandemic. These patients are stable enough to be cared for at home, allowing more availability for higher acuity patients to be admitted to the hospital."

Patients are first assessed for their acute condition by a Health System physician. If they choose the program, they are assisted in returning home to begin receiving care the same day. 

A recovery care coordinator is the patient's single point of contact and monitors vitals, answers questions and coordinates communication with doctors. Patients also receive in-home visits by an acute care registered nurse and have virtual visits with physicians using a state-of-the-art telehealth system.

The most common specialties referring to home recovery care include emergency department, urgent care, heart failure improvement clinic and internal medicine. Examples of medical conditions include pneumonia, congestive heart failure and urinary tract infections.

Patients who need additional care after an inpatient hospital stay can receive treatment at home for 60 days. Rehabilitation care may include infusions, wound care and physical or occupational therapy. A registered nurse, physical or occupational therapist will care for patients in their homes for two to three weeks.

Home recovery care has seen significant growth since its 2016 launch in Marshfield and 2019 expansion in the Chippewa Valley. Benefits include reduced admission costs by 17-30% as compared to typical hospital admission costs; a 55% reduction in readmissions; a 38% reduction in average length of stay, relative to health system hospitals; and patient satisfaction ratings at 93%.