Home-Based Acute Care Studied in Heart Failure

A JAMA Network Open cohort study found that advanced medical care at home was associated with comparable short-term outcomes to continued brick-and-mortar hospitalization among patients initially hospitalized for acute heart failure.

The study analyzed a Kaiser Permanente Southern California advanced medical care at home program and compared eligible patients transferred to home-based acute care with patients who remained hospitalized. In 307 propensity-matched pairs, investigators found no differences in all-cause readmission, mortality, or guideline-directed medical therapy utilization at 30 and 60 days after discharge.

The program used clinician-determined eligibility, and the comparison focused on safety and quality rather than simple avoidance of hospitalization. The study is notable because heart failure is a major driver of hospitalization and is a common diagnosis in hospital-at-home programs, but U.S. data specific to acute heart failure in the at-home setting have been limited.

For clinicians, the findings suggest that selected patients with acute heart failure may be managed safely through a structured hospital-at-home program with clinician-determined eligibility and ongoing clinical monitoring. The study does not imply that all patients with acute heart failure are candidates for home-level acute care.

The results support further evaluation and scaling of advanced medical care at home programs with careful attention to patient selection and heart failure quality metrics.

Source: Huang C, Huynh DN, Han B, et al. Advanced medical care at home among patients with acute heart failure. JAMA Netw Open. 2026;9(7):e2623510. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.23510