Analysis of the Virtual Acute Care at Home Experience (HaH)

March 13, 2026 updated by: Colleen J Klein, OSF Healthcare System

Examining the Intervention Effectiveness of Hospital at Home for Improving Health Outcomes and Experiences for Patients, Clinicians, and Caregivers

The purpose of this study is to examine the implementation, intervention effectiveness, and dissemination of a digital acute care delivery model for improving selected health outcomes in the Hospital at Home population.

Study Overview

Status

Enrolling by invitation

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The investigators will conduct a mixed-methods quasi-experimental research study that will explore the effectiveness of the Hospital at home programs using qualitative interviews and quantitative data as a means to also conduct a process evaluation related to the implementation and efficacy of Hospital at Home programs. The purpose of this pragmatic study is to inform scalability beyond the initial site for implementation within a large healthcare system with a diverse patient population located in various communities, including rural and urban locations.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

9654

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Illinois
      • Peoria, Illinois, United States, 61602
        • OSF Healthcare

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

The study population will consist of individuals who are receiving care in the hospital at home program and those who are hospitalized but choose to receive hospital care in the home setting after a short period in the hospital. All those enrolled in the Hospital at Home Program will be strategically identified and used as the population for the quantitative and qualitative portions of the study.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients 18 years and older who are admitted into the Hospital at Home program after presenting to the emergency department or who are inpatients that can be cared at home for hospital level needs
  • Patients meeting the hospital's criteria for admission by diagnosis type (e.g., heart failure, respiratory infections and inflammations, renal failure, diabetes, pneumonia, bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, fever and inflammatory conditions, viral illnesses, other disorders of the nervous system). Diagnoses are determined by clinicians not researchers.
  • Patients will need to reside within 30 minutes' drive time from the hospital

Patient caregiver inclusion criteria: (not required for patient participation):

  • Age >= 18 years old
  • as capacity to consent to study

Clinician or stakeholder inclusion criteria:

  • Any member of the home hospital clinical team (a healthcare professional who providing care or equipment for use in the home) who will be participating in delivery of healthcare services,
  • Any member of the hospital care teams, including the screening and recruitment of patients for the home hospital intervention and/or providing care to patients that enroll in the intervention that is provided
  • Any member of the leadership team who are involved in the operational aspects of program delivery

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Need for long-term facility level care or current residence in a facility of this type
  • No one will be excluded on the basis of sex or race

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
Hospital at Home Care
The population for this study includes adult patients who are acutely ill and presenting to the emergency room, and are discharged to their home for hospital-level care in the home setting. The patients in this cohort may also include those who are discharged from the hospital early, but receive hospital-level care in the home setting.
Other: Digital Care Solution as supportive personalized care
Patients will need to meet screening and inclusion criteria at time of enrollment. As a pragmatic study, researchers will not determine criteria or management of care aspects for patients.
Other Names:
  • Traditional Hospital Level Care
Traditional Hospital Care
The population for this study includes adult patients who are acutely ill and presenting to the emergency room who elect not to be discharged, choose to be cared for in the hospital setting.
Other: Traditional Hospital Level Care
Patients will be cared for in the inpatient setting for management of diseases that meet screening and inclusion criteria at time of enrollment for hospital at home. As a pragmatic study, researchers will not determine criteria or management of care aspects for patients.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Composite of all-cause mortality for patients admitted to digital hospital
Time Frame: Up to 30 days, (date of death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 30 days)
Total number of deaths over total number of patients admitted to the digital hospital.
Up to 30 days, (date of death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 30 days)
30-day readmission rate
Time Frame: Up to 30 days (date of readmission from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 30 days)
Number of 30-day readmissions as defined by Organization using preset criteria
Up to 30 days (date of readmission from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 30 days)
Patient Satisfaction at discharge
Time Frame: up to 1 week
1-item measure: I would recommend this [insert program name] to others, assessed at discharge name] to others.
up to 1 week
Patient Perception of Digital Care at discharge
Time Frame: up to 1 week
Results of Digital Care - Likert Scale (very satisfied to very dissatisfied)
up to 1 week

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Escalations (for management and treatment of early decompensation)
Time Frame: up to 2 weeks
percentage of patients escalated over total hospital digital encounters
up to 2 weeks
Unplanned readmission within 30-days of discharge
Time Frame: up to 30 days
Number of 30-day readmissions over total number of discharges
up to 30 days
Length of Stay
Time Frame: assessed up to 2 weeks
Day of admission to day of discharge, assessed up to 2 months
assessed up to 2 weeks
Number of participants with Hospital Acquired Infections
Time Frame: assessed up to 1 week
Number of hospital acquired infections reported (CAUTI, CLABSI, etc.)
assessed up to 1 week

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Number of participants with discharge disposition at time of discharge as one other than home
Time Frame: assessed up to 8 weeks
Exploratory - discharge disposition other than patient's home
assessed up to 8 weeks
Qualitative interviews
Time Frame: through study completion, an average of 2 years
Interviews with patients, caregivers, and hospital and digital health clinicians, workers, ancillary services
through study completion, an average of 2 years
Number of readmissions between discharge and during next 6 months.
Time Frame: Up to 6 months (Re-admission from any cause, assessed up to 6 months)
Exploratory
Up to 6 months (Re-admission from any cause, assessed up to 6 months)
Number of Emergency Department visits after discharge for any cause
Time Frame: assessed up to 6 months
Exploratory
assessed up to 6 months
Number of visits in home by provider, clinician, and worker type
Time Frame: assessed up to 2 months
Exploratory
assessed up to 2 months
EuroQol-5D-5L
Time Frame: up to 2 months, assessed twice in this period
5 items self-reported and visual analogue scale, 0-100, where 100 is the best imaginable health today
up to 2 months, assessed twice in this period
Program Implementation and Evaluation Measure
Time Frame: at baseline and 1-year following implementation
15-item measure to assess health care professionals' perceptions of digital care, measured using a Likert scale of 1 to 5, with 1= Not at all, 2=Slightly, 3=Moderately, 4=Very Much, and 5= Entirely. Includes three open-ended questions
at baseline and 1-year following implementation
Montgomery caregiver burden inventory measure
Time Frame: at approximately 48 hours following admission and at 31-days post-discharge
11-items to assess objective, relationship, and stress for caregivers. A 5-point response set ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (a great deal)
at approximately 48 hours following admission and at 31-days post-discharge
Clinical Sustainability Assessment Tool
Time Frame: at baseline and 1-year following implementation
Exploratory - measures organizational and contextual factors for sustainability of a project or initiative. Uses a 7-point Likert scale where 1= to little or no extent to 7=to a great extent. Also includes response option of N/A - not able to answer.
at baseline and 1-year following implementation

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

OSF Healthcare System

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Colleen Klein, PhD, APRN, OSF Healthcare

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

August 15, 2023

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 28, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 11, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

July 19, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 17, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 13, 2026

Last Verified

March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2015255

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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