Best Buy will set up in-home hospital care through a new deal with Atrium Health

[underpants]

🧠 great idea. Lots of money in health care.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/07/best-buy-atrium-health-in-home-hospital-care.html

Best Buy's Geek Squad will go to patients' homes, set up technology that remotely monitors their heart rate, blood oxygen level or other vitals and train the patient or others in the home how to use the devices. The data would then be shared securely with doctors and nurses through the telemedicine hub from Current Health.

Best Buy began setting up virtual-care systems in mid-February for 10 hospitals in and around Charlotte, North Carolina. The company said it aims to have about 100 patients in the program each day — roughly equivalent to a midsized hospital but without a building.


For Best Buy, the hospital-at-home program represents the latest push to turn health care into a more meaningful revenue driver. Its health-care expansion comes as sales of other consumer electronics slow.


So far, Atrium Health has served over 6,300 patients through the hospital-at-home program, he said.

[niyad]

1. Health care as a revenue driver. Of course.

[FalloutShelter]

2. Outsourcing medical care to retail outlets....

What could wrong?

[Hope22]

5. Lol...

The Best Buy squad has been out to repair my stove three times! No luck! It doesn’t bode well for granny’s care!

[area51]

9. +1 n/t

[oregonjen]

3. Kaiser started in-home hospital care during Covid and from a family member's experience,

it was excellent. Techs delivered the equipment, set it up and then dismantled it and took it away when care was completed.
I think it’s a wonderful idea to keep those that need hospital care in their own environment where they’re more comfortable.

[underpants]

4. Locally Bon Secours has dispatch health and it's very good

Including x rays.

[mopinko]

6. there is sooooo much gravy in med devices.

i dont know what the cost of a cpap is these days, but back when i got 1, it was about 3x the cost of an iphone. a plastic box, some other plastic stuff, and a chip only slightly more complicated than a talking greeting card.

i had a friend back in the 70’s who had a biz w her hubs of renting out specialized moving hospital beds. they were used for ppl w spinal cord injuries.
they cost about $20k, iirc. this was pre-computers, pretty much. they were a bit of an engineering feat. they got $3k/DAY. ppl could be in them for months. some of the wealthiest ppl i knew.

look at any of that shit. u might think it’s spendy cuz it’s a niche, but it’s still thousands of ppl just in this country.

eta- iirc, 1 part of the aca that we lost was about price gouging on med equipment.

[Prairie_Seagull]

7. Great, I can get health care the same place I buy my TV or an HDMI cable.

[Irish_Dem]

8. One stop shopping. :(

[haele]

10. Hospital in home - Im conflicted.

I can see where the cost savings are - last December, I spent four days in the hospital while they were trying to figure out what caused the sepsis in my leg, then they sent me home with a PIK line in my elbow, some IV supplies, saline, blood clot meds, and the antibiotic that Laz ended up administering once a day for two weeks. I was required to keep a daily log of my temperature and BP/heart rate, with instructions to call an ambulance if there was a high temperature or tachycardia.
A nurse came by for around 15 minutes four times during this period to show us how to use the PIK line, take vitals and draw blood, and finally to remove the PIK line after the doctor said I was "good to go".
It was awkward, but we got through it, even if we sometimes almost forgot. Understood if I didn't have a halfway competent caretaker at home, the insurance company probably would have shelled out for an hour's daily nurse visit, but my actual care needs were pretty simple.
The problems I can see is if a patient being transitioned to a hospital at home situation is a question as to how stable are they if they still have to be constantly monitored. Health is subjective, and it can be difficult to react quickly if something goes south, or if something happens to the sensors. There can be a several hours delay between the monitoring end and dispatching a nurse or EMT out to assess a situation.
Also, what happens if someone still sick or injured enough they need that level of monitoring has to go to the bathroom or take a shower? If they need to be moved off the bed to change sheets or clean up "an accident"? There still needs to be someone around as a caretaker for more than maybe a daily 15 min. to an hour nurse wellness check visit.

Haele