Hartford HealthCare, Backus Hospital launch state’s first Mobile Integrated Health program

Hartford HealthCare, Backus Hospital in Norwich and American Ambulance Service on Tuesday launched Connecticut’s first state-designated Mobile Integrated Health program, nearly a decade after the state began exploring the model. The program initially will serve patients in 10 rural Eastern Connecticut communities, sending specially trained paramedics into patients’ homes to provide medical services in coordination with their healthcare teams. It will focus in part on patients transitioning home from the hospital who may be at greater risk of complications or readmission. Mobile Integrated Health, or MIH, is designed to provide care outside traditional healthcare settings and reduce unnecessary emergency department visits and hospital readmissions. During scheduled home visits, paramedics can conduct wellness assessments, monitor vital signs and symptoms, review medications, identify home-safety concerns and support certain physician-directed treatments, HHC officials said. Connecticut began exploring MIH in 2017, when a working group was formed to consider how such a program could operate in the state, according to state Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani, who spoke Tuesday at a ceremony at Backus Hospital marking the launch. Lawmakers passed legislation in 2019 directing DPH to establish an MIH program within available appropriations, but the program initially received no funding, Juthani said. After funding was secured, DPH added staff and developed a regulatory framework based in part on programs in other states. The program could benefit patients recovering from conditions such as congestive heart failure or infections that require continued treatment after they leave the hospital, Juthani said. She described a heart-failure patient who begins gaining weight and experiencing shortness of breath after discharge. Without follow-up care, the patient might wait until symptoms become severe enough to call 911 and return to the emergency department. Under the new program, the patient could contact someone who can assess the symptoms before the condition reaches that point, she said. The program also aims to identify nonmedical barriers affecting patients’ health, including food insecurity, transportation problems and home-safety concerns, and connect them with medical and community resources.