The Client Challenge
Virtua Health sought innovative ways to serve its community in southern New Jersey while also alleviating some pressing financial and operational challenges. Leadership identified hospital at home as a compelling transformational opportunity. Studies have shown such programs can lead to improved outcomes, lower total cost of care, and facilitate better patient experiences—with the added benefits of freeing up capacity and reducing future capital needs.
COMMON PITFALLS IN PLANNING & LAUNCH
- No compelling vision limits positioning as enterprise priority
- Limited stakeholder engagement inhibits buy-in
- Little emphasis on organizational readiness and communications impedes adoption
- Perpetual “pilot” mentality disincentivizes cultural infusion
- No clear path to scale cultivates “opt-out” environment
Navigating to Next: The Solution
Virtua engaged Chartis to advise on its hospital at home journey. Chartis completed a capabilities assessment and business case in the first phase, demonstrating the incredible value driven by a hospital at home program for Virtua. This work supported the buy-in of the program by healthcare executives and aligned leadership around a comprehensive implementation plan. In parallel, Chartis collaborated with key stakeholders and received swift approval for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Acute Hospital Care at Home Waiver.
Next, Chartis and Virtua’s Hospital at Home development team established numerous workstreams across several collaborative working sessions, which enabled staff to embrace the operating model leading to broader adoption, a critical component of a thriving hospital at home program. Chartis provided oversight through a Project Management Office and ensured that leadership stayed focused on the highest priorities in each workstream by collaborating on detailed planning and workflow design.
Together, Chartis and Virtua built an operating model unique to Virtua’s organization, overcoming roadblocks and advancing the program’s development. The hospital at home program truly became the health system’s sixth hospital—one “without walls.”
