Welcome to the HealthLeaders August 2025 cover story. Each month, our editors dive into the topics that matter most—such as healthcare innovation, leadership strategies, and patient care—delivered in a dynamic, engaging format.
What did we look at this month? It’s all about the viability and financial uncertainty surrounding Hospital-at-Home (HaH) care models.
It was billed as the future of acute care delivery—a model that could free up beds, cut costs, and delight patients. Yet for all its clinical wins, the financial upside of Hospital-at-Home (HaH) is far murkier than the headlines suggest. For most health systems, the strategy is more about capacity relief than cash flow.
The ROI isn’t in the black ink, it’s in fewer readmissions, happier patients, and the elusive promise of long-term sustainability.
More than 400 hospitals have launched Acute Hospital Care at Home (AHCaH) programs, riding a wave of pandemic-era necessity and a CMS waiver that unlocked Medicare reimbursement.
But with regulatory uncertainty, CFOs are staring down a blunt question: if the reimbursement goes away—or even shifts—does this model still make sense? CFO editor Marie DeFreitas investigates.