Pilot Program for Bronchiolitis Care at Home

The RPM+ (Remote Patient Monitoring Plus) program for bronchiolitis is designed to facilitate the transition of clinically improving infants and children from hospital to home before they meet traditional discharge criteria. The program leverages our mature RPM program, Home Care Services, and Hospital Medicine (HM) faculty, to provide comprehensive support for families. RPM+ aims to decrease inpatient length of stay, free up hospital beds for higher acuity patients, improve patient and family satisfaction, and enhance the rapid deployment of home care services and devices.

This program has enrolled two infants to date and will remain quite small this season. We aim to approach low risk, clinically improving infants and young children with bronchiolitis who still need supplemental oxygen and/or suctioning. Family caregivers can choose to opt out of the program and remain in the hospital. If families choose to enroll, we will deliver family education and ensure deployment of home oxygen and suctioning. Enrolled families will have ongoing support from the nursing team through an app and scheduled telehealth visits with the nurses and HM physicians.

The RPM nurses are available 7 am to 7 pm year-round, with direct escalation pathways to hospital medicine providers and the option for direct hospital readmission if needed. If the small program is successful this year, we anticipate expansion in future respiratory seasons. We are also hopeful that we can learn skills and build processes that can scale up to a Hospital at Home model as discussed in a great recent Pediatric Grand Rounds.

Please contact Patrick.Brady@cchmc.org or Karen.Jerardi@cchmc.org with any questions.