The Great Migration From Hospitals to Hospitals-at-home

By 2025, being “admitted” could mean a trip to your own bedroom, where a mobile EMT team arrives to set up advanced remote heart and lung monitoring gear, video equipment and even a hospital bed. Regular visits—both in-person and virtual—from physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, physical or occupational therapists and others will allow patients with illnesses ranging from straightforward to complex to be cared for without ever occupying an inpatient hospital room.

At Mass General Brigham, the largest health system in Massachusetts, more than 200 patients who otherwise would have required inpatient admission will soon be cared for in their homes, ultimately leaving the majority of brick-and-mortar hospital care for emergency, operative and intensive care. Given the myriad benefits of home hospitalization for select patients (including decreased rates of readmission, lessened anxiety and lowered costs), this model will grow exponentially in the coming decade, with thousands of hospitals across the US offering home-based acute care programs.

The home may not be the only place for patients to receive high-quality care. Pre-pandemic, international medical tourism was an $80B–$90B industry with $3,500-plus spent per trip. The global market is growing 15%–25% as patients flock to popular destinations in Mexico, Southeast Asia and South Asia. The medical tourism market will continue to become more sophisticated, offering services for cancer care, cardiac surgeries, stem cell treatments and organ replacements.