Hospital‐at‐home for COPD: A retrospective comparison with brick‐and‐mortar settings

The recent Acute Hospital Care at Home (AHCaH) initiative has increased Hospital-at-Home (HaH) access and utilization, but it is unknown how care delivery differs between AHCaH-compliant HaH programs and brick-and-mortar (BaM) inpatient care-specifically for common, costly hospital conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In this retrospective cohort study, we compared management and outcomes for adults hospitalized with COPD treated in HaH and BaM settings in 2022. We analyzed EHR data from 297 adults who were eligible for HaH, including 119 who remained in BaM and 178 in HaH. HaH patients had higher likelihood of orders for supplemental oxygen (risk ratio [RR]: 1.04, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.01-1.09) and bronchodilators (RR: 1.12, 95% CI: 1.04-1.20), compared to BaM. HaH patients also had higher mean 30-day acute care-free days alive (mean ratio [MR]: 1.04, 1.01-1.08). Our findings suggest similar or improved guideline-directed therapy and outcomes for COPD patients treated in HaH.