Hospital-level care provided in a patient's own home is appealing to a majority of people for its convenience, comfort and effectiveness, according to a USC Schaeffer Center study . The study, published in JAMA , found that most survey respondents felt they would recover faster if cared for at home, rather than in the hospital, and that they felt safe being treated at home. Researchers say their study provides important insights about patient and family preferences as policymakers weigh whether to extend a pandemic-era program that allowed hospitals to provide care at home.

"Patients, of course, want the best-quality care, but often prefer to be at home, especially if technology allows them to work closely with their physician team toward recovery," says Melissa A. Frasco, research scientist at the Schaeffer Center. The research also found that 82% of respondents felt comfortable with managing a patient's medications at home, and 67% reported willingness to provide more in-depth care such as wound care.

Hospital-level care can often be provided at home for many patients with acute conditions using remote patient-monitoring tools, daily in-person or telehealth visits by clinicians, and in-home infusions. Previous studies have shown that such care can reduce readmissions and lower costs compared with traditional hospital care. The researchers used a sample of the Understanding America Study to survey about 1,100 respondents about their preferences.

Responses showed that 47% agr.