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DispatchHealth provides acute at-home care; works to reduce hospital strain

Physician Assistant DispatchHealth
Posted at 1:54 PM, Sep 20, 2021
and last updated 2021-09-28 15:38:01-04

BOISE, Idaho — Local hospitals continue to feel the pressure of record numbers of COVID-19 patients, but one local provider is doing what they can to help reduce the strain on these large health systems.

The mobile care group, DispatchHealth, helps administer care at your home and gives patients the opportunity to stay home and away from overcrowded hospitals.

With this option, DispatchHealth is helping to take the strain of some of the local hospitals that have now implemented Crisis Standards of Care. DispatchHealth will pull up in one of their vehicles to your home and provide the service right from your living room.

“We got to people's home. It’s like the original doctor's house call and we go into their homes and treat them for any acute care needs,” DispatchHealth physician assistant Jamie Peterson said.

Dispatch Health Vehicle

From a laceration to dehydration to an at-home COVID-19 test — DispatchHealth can arrive at your home to help.

“We get a call; we go to a person's home and see them for whatever need they have. That emergent need or urgent need and determine if they can continue staying in their home and be treated that way or if they need to go to a hospital. We’ll activate EMS or get transportation for them,” Peterson said.

DispatchHealth is following the same pattern as local hospitals, so when COVID-19 infections spike, so does the demand for care.

“We have actually increased our demand by 90% compared to four months ago,” Peterson said. “We are part of a team with the emergency rooms. We are part of a team with primary care doctors. We do not see ourselves as a replacement of those things, we see ourselves as an extension.”

Dispatch Health visit

The focus of DispatchHealth is to help reduce the strain for local hospitals such as St. Luke's or Saint Alphonsus.

According to the health insurer, Regence BlueShield of Idaho, the use of DispatchHealth by its members nearly doubled from July to August.

“The goal we have is to help decrease the burden of non-emergent care. We try to help people stay healthy in their homes with administering care in their homes,” Peterson said.

According to the DispatchHealth website, “We partner with most Medicare advantage, commercial and managed Medicaid plans in the markets we serve.”

To learn more about DispatchHealth, click here.