Mercy COVID Care @ Home Program to Expand Bed Capacity

ST. LOUIS, Dec. 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As COVID-19 continues to surge across the country Mercy is tapping into its Mercy Virtual expertise to care for select COVID-19 patients at home. For more information, visit mercy.net/COVIDHome.

Mercy COVID Care @ Home offers remote, in-home care and real time monitoring for patients with mild symptoms who may need low-flow rates of oxygen. This 24-hour care includes measurement of oxygen saturation by pulse oximetry, adjusting oxygen flow as necessary, along with additional evaluations and appropriate interventions.

"We have learned that not all patients who were admitted at the onset of COVID-19 need to be hospitalized," said Dr. Carter Fenton, medical director of Mercy Virtual vAcute. "By caring for select patients at home we can reserve the hospital beds for those with more serious disease symptoms."

If the status of any patient changes during monitoring or symptoms worsen, patients are evaluated by the Mercy Virtual team and directed to the most appropriate level of care - from an in-home visit, evaluation in one of the outpatient clinic offerings or the hospital setting. 

"Providing the opportunity for care in different settings is extremely important - for both the patients as well as our medical teams," Dr. Fenton said. "Mercy Virtual providers will help patients through the process to determine their needs."

Much more is understood about COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, from new therapies to best practices, and health systems across the country are learning from each other. Mercy worked with Northwell Health, New York's largest health care provider, to gain insight from its experience during the first surge in the spring. Northwell Health was able to provide care with equal or better outcomes in an at-home setting. 

Mercy Virtual's care team has been caring for chronically ill patients since 2015 with the goal of keeping patients comfortable at home and out of the hospital.

"We're able to take our five years of experience in providing virtual, in-home care and translate it into caring for COVID-19 patients," added Dr. Gavin Helton, Mercy Virtual president. "We hope by caring for certain COVID-19 patients in their homes, it will make them more comfortable and still connected to care, while lightening the load on hospital caregivers and in-patient resources."

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SOURCE Mercy