OLYMPIA, Wash. — Dr. Chris Dale calls it one of the “silver linings” of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dale heads up the at-home practice at Olympia’s Providence St. Peter Hospital.
In 2020, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid allowed hospitals to treat some patients at their own homes to help free up bed space for the sickest patients in the early days of the pandemic.
Dale said his hospital has continued the practice. He said 250 St. Peter patients had been sent home early to finish treatments.
They must live within 30 minutes of the hospital.
Nurses visit the patients twice a day and each patient has a virtual appointment with a doctor on a tablet provided to the patient.
“Being in a hospital is very stressful. Not only on patients but on their families,” said Dale.
Unless state legislators allow the practice to continue, hospitals across the state will have to end the at-home treatments on May 1.
Dale and hospital lobbyists and administrators testified in favor of two bills to continue the practice, Senate Bill 6101.
No one testified against either bill, but Ian Corbridge from the Washington Department of Health raised concerns about at-home care.
Corbridge told Senate members the practice “holds promise,” but he said the state would like hospitals to use higher standards than federal guidelines require for patient qualification and in-home visits from health care professionals.
Both bills are set for committee votes on Tuesday, Jan. 30.
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